Why a Leaky Gut is Robbing You of Your Health and How To Repair It

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Leaky gut, as you might be imagining it in your head, is layman terminology for intestines that have increased permeability.

This can be due to a variety of reasons, which we?ll dive into shortly, but first let?s provide a basic understanding of how the GI tract works.

The gut is a tube that is about 20-25 feet long, covers 3000 square feet (the size of a tennis court) of surface area and is only one cell layer thick, according to Dr. Mark Hyman.7

There are spaces between this single layer of intestinal cells that open and close to allow only specific, very small molecules to pass. These spaces are controlled by tight junctions.

What Exactly is Leaky Gut or Intestinal Hyper-Permeability?

The primary purpose of the GI tract is to provide barrier function, as well as to allow the selective passage of substances it deems beneficial, all the while keeping foreign invaders out.

Every second of every day, your intestinal cells, along with the immune, neurological and hormonal components within them, screen your environment in an effort to keep you healthy.

Leaky gut occurs when there is a breakdown in this barrier function allowing substances to enter the bloodstream that normally wouldn?t be there, resulting in immune system activation and inflammation.

Dr. Alessio Fasano lays it out nicely, saying that ?The intestinal mucosa is the battlefield on which friends and foes need to be recognized and properly managed to find the balance between TOLERANCE and the immune response.?2,3,4

How Does Leaky Gut Occur?

The tight junctions in a healthy gut operate like a club bouncer, selecting what to allow past the ?velvet rope? and into the bloodstream.?Simply put, they keep bad things out and allow good things through.

In a Leaky Gut however, the tight?junctions leave the ?velvet rope? unattended, allowing everything to pass through. This can result in serious problems.

Technically speaking, Leaky Gut, also commonly referred to as intestinal hyper-permeability, occurs when inflammation leads to the breakdown of the mechanism that controls the tight junctions between the intestinal cells, allowing them to become looser.?This allows the ?leaking? of either larger and/or foreign particles through to your bloodstream.

Modern lifestyles place a lot of stress on the gut in the form of poor diet, medications, alcohol, infections and environmental toxins, leading to chronic irritation, inflammation and ultimately the breakdown of the intestinal barrier.

This delicate layer that should be selective and tightly regulated, now has tiny pin-prick like holes in it that allow foreign substances such as undigested foods, bacteria, yeast and toxins to cause an immune response.

As this scenario progresses over time, a variety of conditions can arise, including acne, allergies, asthma, fatigue and joint pain, or even more serious ones such as Hashimoto?s, Graves? Disease, Psoriasis and other autoimmune conditions.

Triggers of Leaky Gut

The most common triggers of?Leaky Gut are:

  • Stress
  • Diet
  • Infections
  • Toxins
  • Medications

Trigger: Stress

Stress is a significant trigger and mediator in the development of Leaky Gut. According to Chris Kresser, LAc, ?The biochemical changes that occur in times of stress have significant and immediate impact on gut function.?1

Once your body perceives a stressor, whether it?s work, infection, exercise, food or toxin, it mounts a biochemical response that results in increased gut permeability, mediation of inflammation, increased sensitivity to pain, altered gut motility and changes to the gut microflora.?Over time this can lead to significant changes in GI function.

Kresser states that ?Experimental studies have shown that psychological stress slows normal small intestinal transit time, encourages overgrowth of bacteria, and even compromises the intestinal barrier.?1

These changes provide the gateway for other triggers to wreak havoc, as larger food particles, toxins, and pathogens enter the bloodstream through the gut, and thus the immune response occurs.

Trigger: Diet

While the stresses of work and family are of noteworthy significance, the food that you eat is actually the biggest daily stressor, as perceived by your body, according to Dr. Robert Rountree.5

Common gut-damaging foods include:

Gluten:?A protein that has been hybridized (changed from its original form) to the point that your body sees it as foreign and reacts to it.9,10

Sugar and Refined Carbohydrates:?Support yeast overgrowth and promote bad bacteria over good bacteria.

Alcohol:?Alcohol and its by-products are direct toxins and irritants to the GI mucosa. It?s also linked to yeast and SIBO infections.

Processed Foods:?Contain additives and preservatives that your body sees as irritants or toxins.

GMO?s:?Genetically modified foods that your body can?t identify. The largest GMO crops are Corn, Canola, Soy, Sugar Beets, Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Papaya.8

Food Sensitivities and Allergies:?Gluten, Dairy, Corn, Soy, Yeast, Eggs, and Nuts are the most common offenders. With Leaky Gut, larger food particles enter your blood and the immune system responds. Since you?re likely eating very frequently, the result can be a continuous cycle of inflammation and immune upregulation.

Lectins and Phytates:?Nutrient blockers that are produced by plants for survival that cause mineral malabsorption and alter the gut lining leading to immune activation. These are widespread in grains, legumes, and nuts.9,10

Conventional Dairy:?The protein A1 Casein damages the gut lining, and according to Dr. Josh Axe, pasteurization causes degradation of enzymes that are critical to digestion of lactose.11

Trigger: Infections

GI infections such as Candida (yeast), parasites, H. pylori, and SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) release toxic metabolic products that cause inflammation to the gut lining, as well as the breakdown of its physical barrier.

This toxic process also makes the intestines more hospitable to other pathogens, leaving you vulnerable to additional infections.

The presence of these GI infections also contributes to dysbiosis, or the imbalance of the bad gut flora over the good flora, essentially wiping away another level of defense against invaders and allowing the toxic environment to flourish.

Infections such as Lyme Disease and other tick borne illnesses, as well as certain viruses, can also play a role in the development of Leaky Gut, by contributing to processes that alter normal digestion and elimination, as well as perpetuate inflammation.16

Infections can also further complicate the situation through molecular mimicry.

Molecular mimicry occurs when the body mistakes a self-molecule for a foreign molecule and in error mounts an immune attack on its own tissue.14

A classic example is the bacteria Klebsiella attacking the joints, resulting in Ankylosing Spondylitis.15

Due to molecular mimicry, bacteria and parasites are often found to be root causes in the development of various autoimmune conditions.14, 15

Trigger: Toxins

In addition to the toxins produced from bacteria, yeast, and parasites, your body is exposed to an excessive amount of daily contaminants.

According to the EPA there are over 70,000 chemicals in U.S. commerce today.12 Some common ones include:

  • Heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic.
  • Pesticides such as Glyphosate and Bt toxin.
  • Mold mycotoxins.
  • Chemicals such as BPA, BPS, PCBs, dioxins, phthalates, chlorine, fluorine, xylene and toluene.

Toxins can damage intestinal cells, alter the gut nervous and immune systems, or even kill beneficial bacteria. The worst effect however, may be that these toxins are being reabsorbed and recirculated rather than eliminated from your body.

Even the hormones in your body can act as toxins because they can be re-absorbed into circulation if the flora is imbalanced and the gut is permeable.

Trigger: Medications

Anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and acid blocking drugs are the main medication-type contributors to Leaky Gut.

NSAIDs actually block the production of prostaglandins, which are substances that can mediate pain, but that are also critical to rebuilding the lining of the intestines.

According to Dr. Leo Galland, NSAIDs can further cause damage by sensitizing bacteria and altering the GI flora.13 He states, ?If you use a full therapeutic dose of NSAIDs for 2 weeks there is a 75% chance you will develop a leaky gut that will not go away when you stop taking the drug.?13

Along with killing pathogens, antibiotics also kill the good bacteria, creating the potential for yeast overgrowth, which directly causes and perpetuates Leaky Gut.

Acid blockers decrease the amount of stomach acid produced. This results in suppressed and incomplete digestion of food, which allows large particles through the intestines and into the bloodstream. This increases the likelihood of immune system reaction. Further, decreased stomach acid leaves you vulnerable to pathogens, as there isn?t enough acid to kill them.

Symptoms of Leaky Gut

GI: Gas, bloating, belching, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, undigested food particles or fat in stool, gurgling in stomach, acid reflux, and food sensitivities or allergies.

Immune: Allergies, asthma, chronic sinus infections, frequent infections such as respiratory or urinary tract infections, candida overgrowth, and autoimmune conditions.

Liver: Poor detoxification, pain under the lower right ribs.

Skin: Acne, rosacea, rashes, eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis.

Musculoskeletal: Joint pain, muscle pain, and fibromyalgia.

Brain and Mood: Headache, fatigue, brain fog, inability to focus, irritability, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, lack of coordination or balance and poor memory.

Hormone: Fatigue, poor temperature control, weight gain or weight loss, poor sleep quality, food cravings, poor blood sugar regulation and hormone imbalances.

If you?re experiencing symptoms that lead you to suspect Leaky Gut, you should address them quickly.

According to Dr. Tom Sult, ?As the condition of the gut degrades, the health implications can become serious.?6

Minor Symptoms tend to be largely limited to the gut early on in the condition, where as a more progressive case will have symptoms outside of the gut.6

The more symptoms that you have, the higher the correlation to an increased immune system response and the subsequent possibility to develop more serious conditions that can be difficult to reverse, such as autoimmune conditions.

Every single autoimmune condition is thought to have the same root cause: Leaky Gut. Dr. Alessio Fasano?s research has been integral in identifying this linkage. In his 2012 paper titled ?Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disease,? he states, ?In addition to the genetic predisposition and exposure to triggering non-self antigens, the loss of protective function of the mucosal barriers that interact with the environment (mainly through the GI and lung mucosa) is necessary for autoimmunity to develop.?2,4

In The Paleo Approach, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, PhD writes, ?A leaky gut is present in every autoimmune disease that has been tested, including Ankylosing Spondylitis, IBDs (Crohn?s and ulcerative colitis), Celiac Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Type 1 Diabetes.?15

Lab Testing For Leaky Gut

There are several testing options to determine whether you?re suffering from increased intestinal permeability, or Leaky Gut.

Some labs label it the Intestinal Permeability Test, while more generic labels include the Lactulose-Mannitol Test or Hydrogen Breath Test.

Since there are many contributing factors to the development of Leaky Gut, other important tests to consider are:

  • Food sensitivity and allergy testing
  • Dysbiosis testing through organic acids, stool cultures, and SIBO breath testing
  • Toxin testing through urine or hair analysis
  • Liver function testing through a blood test or an organic acids test

Treatment of Leaky Gut

Dr. Leo Galland explains that even though you have a leaky gut, the cells of the intestinal lining replace themselves every 3-6 days.13

This means that once you eliminate the contributing triggers and root causes of Leaky Gut you can repair the intestines fairly quickly.?The hard part can be identifying all of the causes and eliminating them.

Functional Medicine?s approach to the treatment of Leaky Gut is the 5R Program:

  1. Remove the sources of irritation and inflammation:

Eliminate foods that contribute to leaky gut. Completing an elimination diet for 3-4 weeks is a good place to start.

Using a food diary is a great tool to identify food sensitivities when you add them back in. If you add them back in and have any type of reaction, you should keep them out until your gut is fully healed.

An anti-inflammatory, whole foods based diet?is best.

Try to eliminate the use of medications known to contribute to leaky gut, if you can.

Reduce toxin exposure by eating organic when possible, using cleaner personal care and home products, and filtering your home air and water. Many green plants provide natural toxin filtration.

Remove all sources of parasitic, fungal, and bacterial infections in the gut. If you take care of these without resolution of symptoms, look into viruses and other infections such as tick borne illnesses.

  1. Replace the nutrients that your body needs to heal:

Using digestive enzymes and betaine hydrochloride to allow for proper breakdown and absorption of nutrients.

Taking a good multivitamin can help restore nutrients while your body is still not completely digesting and absorbing food.

Glutamine is an amino acid that is the primary source of fuel for intestinal cells. Supplementing with glutamine at 5-10g twice daily can help heal the gut lining faster.

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils can help decrease inflammation taken at a dose of 2-4 g per day.

Supplements that contain Slippery Elm, Marshmallow Root, Aloe, DGL, and Zinc Carnosine are soothing to the gut mucosa. Use these cautiously as some of them can cause GI distress in people with certain dietary restrictions and autoimmune conditions.15

  1. Reinoculate with good bacteria to restore the flora:

Using a high quality probiotic with at least 50 billion CFU twice daily will help restore the gut flora. Lactobacillus and Bifidobacter species are best.

Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha, as well as kefir and yogurt (you can use dairy or non-dairy based) contain live, active cultures that will help the good bacteria stick around.

Prebiotic fibers and resistant starches provide the nutrients that support the healthy flora and maintain intestinal health.

  1. Repair the gut lining and normal physiological functions.

Taking many of the supplements described in #2 and #3 will help repair and rebuild the gut lining.

In addition, it?s important to also repair the normal physiological processes of digestion, or you risk developing a leaky gut again. This includes using betaine HCl to increase stomach acid, digestive enzymes to assist the pancreas, intestines and liver until they produce adequate levels on their own, and sometimes ox bile to assist the liver in the digestion of fats.

Additionally, motility, or the ability to keep waste and toxins moving through the GI tract, often needs to be repaired and restored.

Ginger?and?d-limonene?are good agents to?stimulate GI motility.?Exercise?and?movement?are also great ways to keep the bowels moving.

  1. Rebalance your body to heal faster and maintain vibrant health moving forward.

Decreasing stress through journaling, deep breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, exercising,?or?getting out into?nature are great ways to achieve this.

Finally, one of the most imperative measures you can take is to get at least eight hours uninterrupted sleep?as this is when the body heals.

There?s no smoking gun for overcoming leaky gut, but what you?ve just read is the blueprint used by top functional medicine practitioners the world over. And it works.

Like everything else in life that?s worth it, you must put in the work. If you can commit to these changes, you could be well on your way to healing your gut in short order.

How Inflammation Is Burning Your Health

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Chronic inflammation = disease.?This is a profound statement that has broad ramifications for health and disease management everywhere.

If you look at the root causes of almost every single disease and death, you?ll notice that chronic inflammation is a player in the process.

Some inflammation is good?in fact, it?s a normal, healthy biological process. It?s only when inflammation goes unchecked for extended periods of time that it becomes a big problem.

Think of inflammation as a smoldering ember. If you have a few embers in one room of a 10-story building, it?s a small problem that?s contained. But if you have embers in every room on every floor of that 10-story building, now there?s a problem. Just a little puff of air might rekindle these embers into an actual fire again. Eventually, the heat from this small fire could grow, and the whole building could go up in flames.

This is similar to what happens in the body. A minor infection might cause a fire that turns into smoldering embers, and these embers die out when the infection is gone (if you have a healthy immune response).

If you?re stressed out, not exercising or sleeping well, or have poor nutrition, imbalanced hormones, and GI problems, there?s a good chance you have smoldering embers burning throughout your body, creating a low-level systemic fire.

If you don?t identify the causes of these small fires, they?ll wreak havoc on your body and cause full-blown diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer?s, Parkinson?s, dementia, stroke, autoimmune conditions, or hundreds of other major diseases.

The good news is that the power to change this is in your hands, because every action you take each day either contributes to health or causes disease.

What Exactly is Inflammation?

Inflammation is a big buzzword in the world of health now, and rightfully so. The word inflammation comes from the latin word ?inflammare,? meaning ?to ignite,? and it?s your body?s response to danger signals.

Classically, inflammation describes the body?s immune response and biochemical processes to remove harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, toxins, irritants, or even damaged cells in an attempt to preserve itself and heal. Then we have the physical manifestations of inflammation: calor (heat), rubor (redness), dolor (pain), tumor (swelling), and loss of function.

This process is apparent when you have a cut on your arm, a bad sunburn, or a pimple. It?s less obvious when you have a viral or bacterial infection, since you can?t see the signs. What we?ve described here is acute inflammation. Acute inflammation is a normal process necessary for life; it allows you to survive scrapes and infections. It has a beginning and an end.

Conversely, chronic inflammation persists without end in response to hidden infections, toxins, chemicals, and/or foods or from lack of counter-regulatory mechanisms (chemical ?off? switches) in the immune system that should turn inflammation off.2 Persistent cellular stress or dysfunction caused by a high calorie, low nutrient diet, oxidative stress, and hormone imbalances perpetuates this process.

Chronic inflammation is never a good thing. The major danger with chronic inflammation is that it?s silent, causing destruction for years or decades before it?s noticed (usually as the first signs of a disease), leaving significant damage in its wake.1 It could be raging inside you at this very moment without you even noticing. This kind of inflammation is what underlies almost every chronic illness and disease known to man.

Acute and chronic inflammation share a common origin, although they end with two very different products. The main differences between the two processes are:5

Acute Inflammation:

  • Elimination or isolation of the stressor (infection, toxin, chemical, etc.)
  • Usually a local response (anaphylaxis is the exception)
  • Usually adaptive with an appropriate response that begins and ends
  • Usually short in duration
    Often noticeable

Chronic Inflammation:

  • Maladaptive (the normal mechanisms that quench inflammation aren?t working)
  • Self-perpetuating/self-limiting
  • Disrupts normal balance (homeostasis) in the body
  • Alters normal cellular function
  • Destroys cells and tissue over time (like the degeneration of joints in arthritis)
  • Long duration (months to years)
  • Often unnoticeable or hidden

How Does Inflammation Occur?

The inflammatory process is a complex symphony of the response of the immune system and its interaction with many different types of cells and biochemical signals.

There are two main branches?the innate immune response, which occurs quickly and is more simple and nonspecific, and the acquired immune response, which occurs more slowly, as it?s more specific and has memory (so when you encounter the same trigger, such as a virus, your body is prepared for the attack).

Triggers, such as infection or injury, induce a series of biochemical events. Numerous substances are released simultaneously by the injured tissues, causing changes to the surrounding tissues.6

Remember our 10-story burning building? You can think of your injured tissue doing this just like you would turn on the sprinklers to dampen the fire and alert the fire department.

There are many chemical messengers that function in this process; however, the important ones to note are histamine, serotonin, bradykinin, lipid (fatty acid) derived mediators, cytokines, and acute phase reactants.

These chemicals are the ?fire department,? with their many tools to put out the fire. They?re responsible for actions such as swelling (increased leakiness of the blood vessels), relaxation (dilation) or tightening (constriction) of the blood vessels, airways, and intestinal smooth muscle, and sending out chemical messages that turn on genes, recruit more helpers to the scene, or produce substances involved in the inflammatory process itself.

Histamine: Most people are aware that histamine is involved in the inflammatory response given the significant notoriety of antihistamines with allergies.

What many people are unaware of is that it also functions as an excitatory (stimulating) brain neurotransmitter producing wakefulness and anxiety, which is why many people with severe allergies, hives, or GI infections don?t sleep well.5,6 Its highest concentrations are in the gut, skin, lungs, and central nervous system (CNS), where many of the symptoms are felt.

Serotonin: This substance is best known as a brain neurotransmitter responsible for keeping you happy, calm, and well-rested. It?s also known for its role in the gut, affecting motility (how food and waste move through) and secretion of digestive chemicals. 95% is produced in the gut, and it can be significant in inflammatory GI disorders. You know that feeling when you get butterflies in your stomach, then have anxiety and maybe diarrhea? That?s serotonin. Together, histamine and serotonin are some of the first responders in the inflammatory movement.3,5

Bradykinin: This protein isn?t well-known by name; however, you?ve felt its effects many times before, since it?s a significant chemical in the inflammatory process. Bradykinin causes many of the actions of the inflammatory process (swelling, pain, blood vessel dilation, etc.) itself, or it signals other cells to participate and release their chemicals. It can also increase histamine release, making a response more intense.4 Bradykinin is most often released from tissue damage or exercise.4

Lipid Derived Inflammatory Mediators: This is a fancy term for chemicals derived from the oxidation (the loss of electrons from molecules?think rust) of the omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA), and omega-3 fatty acids? eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Like histamine, you may have heard of some members of this group of chemicals before, since prostaglandins and leukotrienes are called out in the inflammatory process in advertisements.

They?re short-lived, signaling molecules found in most cells that modulate all aspects of the inflammatory process, including the resolution of inflammation, and they have system-wide influence on nerve transmission, mood, and hormone secretion.5,7,8

Cytokines: These are the primary chemical switches that turn the immune response on and off. They activate and recruit other cells to the immune response and assist in antibody production. Cytokines are responsible for fever production and participate in the allergic response, as well as antimicrobial and antiviral activity.5,7,8

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF?) is one of the most important cytokines involved in systemic inflammation; it regulates other cells of the immune response. It has antiviral and anti-tumor activity, and dysregulation is implicated in obesity, Alzheimer?s, cancers, depression, and IBD.5,7,8

Acute Phase Reactants (APR): APRs are a category of proteins produced in the liver that increase or decrease in response to inflammation. Some of the most notable are C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, and fibrinogen.

CRP increases rapidly with inflammation and marks damaged cells, making them easier to identify for elimination. Once it rises, it?s cleared rapidly from the system.11,12

Ferritin, an iron carrier protein, increases in response to most infections, except a few bacterial strains.11,12 Fibrinogen is a coagulation factor promoting clot formation that increases with inflammation. ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), also considered to be an APR, describes the rate at which red blood cells fall in a one-hour period and correlates to fibrinogen levels.11,12

Other aspects of the inflammatory response involve the formation of antibodies to specific antigens and the blood clotting system. Antigens are proteins found on all cell surfaces, and when the immune system identifies them as foreign, it forms a corresponding antibody to it. Antibodies either neutralize the foreign invader or prepare it for phagocytosis (engulfing of a foreign particle for elimination).9

The process of blood clotting (coagulation) involves a group of proteins that convert clotting factors (such as prothrombin, thrombin, and fibrinogen) to a fibrin clot. The pathway is linked to inflammation since the clotting process, which occurs outside of a cell, can trigger the inflammatory signaling inside of a cell.

These processes operate in a feedback loop that promotes one another, and when left uncontrolled, this loop can be a problem in chronic inflammation?especially cardiovascular disease, clotting disorders, and hormone imbalances.10

All of these chemicals signal in various ways to elicit the response that produces redness, swelling, heat, immobility, and pain?as they should?but the body is smart and knows that the inflammation must end.

Dr. Robert Rountree, MD, states, ?Simultaneously, the body activates biochemical counter-regulatory pathways (off switches) that produce anti-inflammatory mediators such as lipoxins, protectins, and resolvins. These are lipid mediators that are made on demand from the omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA), and the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) specifically for the purpose of turning off the inflammatory response.?2

This pro- and anti-inflammatory balance is the adaptive immune process, and it?s what should happen after an acute injury where the body identifies and responds to the insult or invasion, then repairs the injury and the process ends.

This process becomes a problem in two scenarios. First, when this response is exaggerated, producing a severe allergy or anaphylaxis. Second, when the cause of acute inflammation persists without end or the counter-regulatory mechanisms (anti-inflammatories) are compromised, producing chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation from a wound, infection, or a food allergy will cause systemic, chronic inflammation if not identified and treated.

Additionally, when the normal mechanisms that quench inflammation are decreased (or pro-inflammatory processes are increased), chronic inflammation will ensue. Inflammation begets inflammation, so it?s important to identify the triggers to stop perpetuating the cycle.

Functional medicine cardiologist Dr. Mark Houston says it best: ?The body has a limited number of options to deal with an unlimited number of insults.?

Triggers of Inflammation

There are many triggers of inflammation, and often several are operating in concert together, propelling the cycle forward.

What these triggers have in common is that they generate free radicals or reactive species from oxidative stress and/or the inflammatory chemicals discussed previously.

Free radicals and other reactive species are produced as a product of oxidation, which involves the removal of one electron from an atom, rendering it unstable or reactive.

Your body obtains energy by combining fuel from the foods we eat with the oxygen we breathe in a controlled metabolic process that yields potentially dangerous oxidative byproducts that damage DNA, mitochondria, proteins, and cell membranes if we don?t have the appropriate antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms in place.

Oxidative stress isn?t only generated when you eat, but also during exercise, detoxification, and when the immune system is activated in the inflammatory response.

The good news is that many of these triggers are modifiable lifestyle factors or conditions that can be tested for, identified, and reversed. Dr. Mark Hyman, MD explains the importance of identifying the causes, explaining, ?My job is to find those inflammatory factors unique to each person?to see how various lifestyle, environment, and infectious factors spin the immune system out of control, leading to a host of chronic illnesses.?16

The most common triggers are:

  • Diet
  • Stress
  • Dysbiosis
  • Infection
  • Hormone imbalance
  • Toxins

Trigger: Diet

Diet, for most people, is the single most important lifestyle change that can significantly impact chronic inflammation.

The food you eat sends chemical messages to your genes, which will either turn up or turn down inflammation. The following are pro-inflammatory foods (so you should think about avoiding them):

Gluten: A protein that has been hybridized (changed from its original form through breeding, not genetic modification) to the point that your body sees it as foreign and reacts to it. This reaction upregulates the immune system and will continue until the gluten is removed.

Food Sensitivities and Allergies: Gluten, dairy, corn, soy, yeast, eggs, and nuts are the most common offenders. When your body is constantly bombarded by these irritants, leaky gut, or increased intestinal permeability occurs, allowing larger food particles to enter your blood, and the immune system responds. Since you eat several times a day, the result can be a continuous cycle of inflammation and immune upregulation until the source is eliminated.

GMOs: Genetically modified foods that your body can?t identify can trigger an immune response similar to a food sensitivity. The largest GMO crops are corn, canola, soy, sugar beets, zucchini, yellow squash, and papaya, many of which are pro-inflammatory to begin with.

According to Dr. Tom O?Bryan, BT (botulinum toxin) in GMO foods has been shown to cause severe intestinal permeability in insects.23 Dr. O?Bryan also warns that BT toxins have been found in maternal and fetal blood, so we know they?re getting absorbed when we consume them.23

Sugar and Refined Carbohydrates: Your body is only designed to handle small amounts of natural sugar, and there are several issues with exceeding this amount.

First, refined sugar and carbs are genetically unfamiliar, which is a problem.11 Second, when you consume sugar or carbs, especially in large amounts frequently, it causes a rapid rise in blood sugar. If you need fuel, your body will use it; otherwise, it gets stored in muscles as glycogen or in fat cells.

If you have decreased insulin sensitivity or diabetes, this storage process is inefficient, leaving sugars in circulation, which spells trouble because it leads to the formation of free radicals from increased oxidation. Too much insulin release is pro-inflammatory as well.11 Excess sugar also promotes yeast overgrowth and dysbiosis (higher amounts of bad bacteria versus good bacteria), which further encourage inflammation.

Conventional Dairy and Meats: Meat and dairy raised in a conventional manner (grain-fed versus grass-fed) have the same health problems humans do, since they weren?t meant to eat grain.

Consuming all of these grains leads to a higher production of pro-inflammatory omega-6s and fewer omega-3s in these animals. When you eat them, you?re increasing your levels of pro-inflammatory fats as well. Some of the proteins (especially A1 casein) found in dairy are known to promote inflammation according to Dr. Kelly Brogan.13

Bad Fats: Most Americans have a dietary (and bodily) imbalance in their omega-6/omega-3 ratio, which causes your body to be in a pro-inflammatory state. Corn, safflower, sunflower, soy, and peanut oil are all omega-6s. Also, healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts, and nut oils are degraded (oxidized) when used in cooking at high heats or when storing them improperly, leaving them vulnerable to oxidation due to air exposure.

Consuming these now rancid (oxidized) fats is inflammatory. Chemically altered trans fats (hydrogenated oils, margarine) in processed foods are potent drivers of inflammation as well.

Processed Foods: These foods contain additives, colorings, dyes, and preservatives that your body sees as irritants or toxins. Because these foods are foreign to your body, they may induce an immune response.

Alcohol: It?s well-documented in literature that alcohol consumption decreases immune function.14 Alcohol and its by-products are direct toxins and irritants to the body, especially the gut, liver, and brain.

Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs): AGEs are produced as a result of a glycation reaction, when a sugar reacts with a protein or fat. AGEs form stable molecules that embed in tissues, causing oxidative damage, and are difficult for the body to get rid of. In food, they occur by cooking at high heat as with grilling, barbecuing, deep frying, broiling, and searing?basically anything that gives color or texture. The higher the heat, the more AGEs that form.

Meats, sugary foods, and processed foods are particularly high in AGEs. They also occur naturally in your body, and the higher your blood sugar, the more these will form, so limiting sugars and maintaining blood sugar is important. Fructose is particularly reactive, so limiting daily intake to 25 g or less is best.15

Low Phytonutrient and Antioxidant Consumption: A diet low in a broad array of plant-based nutrients is associated with increased levels of inflammation, even if you?re eating ?the right things.? Decreased intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with developing inflammation that preceded metabolic syndrome and heart disease, among others.16

Trigger: Stress

Stress as a trigger for inflammation is just as important as diet is. It could be argued that stress is more so, actually, since stress comes in so many different forms that all add up when combined in our hectic modern lives.

Physical Stress: Trauma/injury, surgery, and exercise (too much or too little)

Chemical Stress: Toxins, metabolic waste and oxidation, infections, allergens, chronic illness, autoimmunity, medications, hormone imbalances, food, and drink.

Emotional Stress: Work, finances, relationships, job change, marital change, death of a loved one, birth of a child, etc. This is what people commonly refer to as ?stress? in their lives. These stressors are often the hardest to control and can have a profound impact on healing.

It?s important to note that the body doesn?t discern between different types of stresses. Similarly, it can?t perceive the difference between good stress (birth of a baby or a new job) and bad stress (loss of job, divorce) and will react the same.

Anything that disrupts homeostasis will be perceived by the body as a stressor, and it will act accordingly in an effort to keep you alive.

Stress, like inflammation, is good when the response is appropriate and controlled. It initiates the ?fight or flight? response meant to keep you alive when danger is present (like when you encounter a bear and need to escape), like blood rushing to your brain to keep you focused. Simultaneously, non-essential functions like digestion and reproduction are decreased.

Just like with inflammation, counter-regulatory off switches exist so that the stress response ends. This was great in paleolithic times; however, in modern life, we have an overabundance of stress that doesn?t seem to stop.

Our stress response never ends, disrupting the mechanisms that should bring us back in balance. This causes several physiological changes that potentiate inflammation.

Chronic stress causes the sympathetic nervous system to be upregulated and increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Over time, constant cortisol elevation leads to cortisol resistance, where the body must pump out even more to meet the same metabolic demands.

When this occurs for extended periods of time, cortisol levels become chronically low and adrenal fatigue develops. Cells of the immune system become insensitive to cortisol?s regulatory effect and don?t respond, which promotes inflammation.17

Not only does stress promote inflammation, but it also lowers immunity. A 2012 study by Dr. Sheldon Cohen revealed that prolonged exposure to a stressful event was associated with the inability of immune cells to respond to hormonal signals that normally regulate inflammation.

In turn, those with the inability to regulate the inflammatory response were more likely to develop colds when exposed to the virus. ?The immune system?s ability to regulate inflammation predicts who will develop a cold, but more importantly it provides an explanation of how stress can promote disease,? Cohen said. ?When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease. Because inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as cardiovascular, asthma, and autoimmune disorders, this model suggests why stress impacts them as well.?17

Prolonged stress upregulates (turns up) pro-inflammatory genes, resulting in increased susceptibility to infection, slower wound healing and resolution of illness, and increased risk of serious illness and premature aging from the effects of cell damage.

Trigger: Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis occurs when there?s an imbalance between the beneficial and harmful organisms in you body, especially the gut.

Normally, you have helpful bacteria and even some yeast that help you digest food, produce nutrients, and protect you from harmful organisms as well as inflammation.

Dysbiosis arises when there?s a general imbalance between the good and bad flora, or when there?s a pathogen or infection present, such as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), Candida (yeast), or a parasite.

Research shows that a decrease in certain gram-positive bacterial species is associated with inflammation, since they?re responsible for producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), which act to decrease some of the inflammatory signaling molecules and enhance the immune response.18

Additionally, an increase of certain gram-negative bacterial species promotes inflammation because most of them contain lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in their outer cell membrane. This is an endotoxin?as the name suggests, that?s bad because it promotes inflammation by eliciting a strong immune response and contributing to leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability).

SIBO arises when there are more bacteria in the small intestines than there should be. Normally, there are much fewer bacteria in the small intestines than the colon since the small intestines function more in digestion and absorption of nutrients. SIBO infections can promote inflammation through the imbalance of bacteria, leaky gut, nutrient malabsorption, and the imbalance of histamine and serotonin.

Candida (yeast) is a fungus that aids in digestion and nutrient absorption. It?s opportunistic, becoming pathogenic and increasing in numbers if your immune system is compromised from stress or illness, or if your diet is high in sugar and carbohydrates.

Research shows that Candida infection delays healing, and the inflammation from the infection promotes further colonization of yeast, creating a vicious cycle of low-level inflammation and infection.19

Parasites are literally everywhere. Giardia (sometimes called beaver fever) and Cryptosporidium are some of the parasites that make the headlines occasionally, even though there are a plethora that exist. Acute parasitic illness manifests with the typical symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, bloating, fever, and malaise. Most resolve with the normal immune response.

Chronic infections, however, can range from asymptomatic to severe, with blood and mucus-filled stools, profuse diarrhea, and malnutrition. These infections contribute to inflammation through decreased nutrient absorption, constant immune system attack, and interrupted sleep patterns.

Trigger: Infections

Infections other than typical GI infections are also a common source of inflammation; they often go undetected for long periods of time, allowing them to wreak havoc on the body and the immune system.

Some more obvious infectious agents are mold (fungal infection), Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses, and chronic viral infections like the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Less obvious and often hidden infections that can go undetected for years are abscesses from trauma or surgery, but especially dental procedures.

Mold: Describes a group of fungi that are ubiquitous. Their spores are often airborne and deposit everywhere, which is why you find white or green fuzzy patches on your produce or bread. It can be associated with dysbiosis or systemic infection.

The toxins (mycotoxins) that come from mold are very harmful, producing symptoms ranging from mild to severe fatigue, sore throats, nosebleeds, headaches, diarrhea, brain fog, food sensitivities, and memory loss. These symptoms often mimic other conditions, which delays diagnosis and allows inflammation to proliferate.

Tick-Borne Illness: Tick-borne illnesses are becoming more prevalent and are often hard to diagnose. Lyme disease, an infection acquired through the bite of a tick infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most well-known of this type of infection. Babesia, Rickettsia (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever), Ehrlichia, and Bartonella are also frequently identified infectious bacteria from tick bites. These infections not only take a toll only the immune system itself, but also the gut, contributing to decreased GI motility and dysbiosis.

Chronic Viral Infection: A common but not often talked about cause of systemic inflammation. The problem with viruses is that they can remain latent (inactive) for extended periods of time and don?t reactivate until there?s a trigger.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are two herpes family viruses that can remain latent after initial infection and only become active again under stress or immunosuppression. EBV, the infectious agent in mononucleosis, is also associated with the development of several types of cancer and autoimmune conditions. Chronic activation of the immune system produces inflammation with undetected viruses.

Abscesses: Can occur after any type of tissue injury such as trauma, surgery, infection, or dental procedures (especially a root canal). They form when incomplete healing takes place, either from a physical barrier or because the body can?t mount an appropriate immune response to kill off the bacteria.

The constant activation of the immune system produces chronic inflammation, and many systemic symptoms can go on for years?this is one of the most difficult causes to detect, since most people forget about a procedure or discount an injury.

Trigger: Hormone Imbalances

Hormones need to be maintained in a delicate balance for proper function. When any hormone is too high or too low, many of the other hormones shift as well, causing imbalances throughout the system.

Cortisol, DHEA, insulin, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all have effects on each other, as well as other hormones, which all impact inflammation.

Generally, androgens (testosterone and DHEA) have a suppressive effect on the immune response and inflammation while estrogens increase the immune response. Research suggests:

?Low levels of androgens as well as lower androgen/estrogen ratios have been detected in body fluids (blood, synovial fluid, saliva) of both male and female rheumatoid arthritis patients, supporting the possibility of a pathogenic role for the decreased levels of the immune-suppressive androgens.

?Several physiological, pathological, and therapeutic conditions may change the sex hormone milieu and/or peripheral conversion, including the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, the postpartum period, menopause, chronic stress, and inflammatory cytokines, as well as use of corticosteroids, oral contraceptives, and steroid hormonal replacements, inducing altered androgen/estrogen ratios and related effects. Therefore, sex hormone balance is still a crucial factor in the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses.?

Adrenal fatigue with lowered cortisol and DHEA, estrogen dominance in women (with a relative low progesterone level), and low testosterone in men (with a relative elevation in estrogen) all create an imbalance that skews the body to a pro-inflammatory state. This state can be further exacerbated by poor blood sugar regulation.

Proper blood sugar regulation is critical in maintaining hormone and inflammatory balance. Excessive insulin is pro-inflammatory, as is the activity of the enzyme aromatase, which is increased by insulin.

Aromatase is the enzyme that converts androgens to estrogens, and it has a great deal of influence on the production and balance of sex hormones. Many cell types have aromatase activity, but adipocytes (fat cells) are of particular interest because the more you have, the more active aromatase is.

If you?re insulin-resistant, diabetic, or overweight, the enzyme aromatase will become upregulated, promoting inflammation. Insulin resistance (high insulin levels) and excess body fat increase estrogens, which increase aromatase and inflammation in a vicious cycle.

In addition, elevated blood sugar levels from insulin resistance create more inflammatory compounds, worsening the situation. This is why poor blood sugar regulation combined with excess body fat creates the perfect inflammatory storm and provides a base for many chronic illnesses.


Trigger: Toxins

Toxins are virtually all around us in modern life, from pollutants in the air we breathe, the water we drink and bathe in, and the foods we consume to the products we use to clean ourselves, our homes, and our possessions. They can also be produced in the cooking process and in our guts.

The process by which toxins cause inflammation is multifactorial. According to Chris Kresser, LAc, MS, ?Environmental toxins interfere with glucose and cholesterol metabolism and induce insulin resistance; disrupt mitochondrial function; cause oxidative stress; promote inflammation; alter thyroid metabolism; and impair appetite regulation.?

The thyroid is particularly sensitive to chemicals and oxidative stress. With increased exposure, thyroid function decreases, producing a hypothyroid state that triggers weight gain and supports inflammation.

Toxins you?ll want to minimize exposure to include heavy metals (mercury, lead, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, etc), tobacco smoke, air pollution outside and in the home, pesticides (organophosphates), herbicides, plastics (BPA, BPF, BPS, phthalates, polystyrene, PVC, etc.), chemicals (toluene, xylene), and preservative and chemical-laden personal care products and foods. This list is a good place to start, but it?s not exhaustive.

Toxins can also come from cooking at high heat. When food darkens in color, it not only produces AGEs but also heterocyclic amines (HCAs), especially in meats. Consumption of HCAs is linked to many types of cancer since it alters genes (mutation) and promotes inflammation.21 And if your detoxification systems are impaired, the effects can be magnified because of the free radicals and oxidative stress generated. Dr. Robert Rountree says, ?Eating a burnt burger is really no different than smoking a cigarette.?24

Symptoms of Inflammation

Anything that ends in ?itis? means that it?s inflamed. Appendicitis literally translates to ?inflammation of the appendix.? Other than the obvious ?itis? conditions, here are other symptoms associated with chronic inflammation:

Immune: Allergies, asthma, autoimmune disorders, chronic or recurrent infections that won?t resolve (such as sinusitis or UTIs)

Skin: Dermatitis, eczema, acne, rashes, hives, redness, pruritis (itchiness), petechiae (broken blood vessels)

Gastrointestinal: Food sensitivities, food allergies, GERD (acid reflux), IBS, IBD, and infection or dysbiosis that can produce gas, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation

Brain and Mood: Headaches, brain fog, poor memory, depression, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, lethargy, dementia

Nerves: Tingling, pins and needles, paresthesia

Hormonal: Poor blood sugar regulation (especially high blood sugar), weight gain or loss, imbalanced female and male hormone systems, poor sleep quality, thyroid imbalances, adrenal imbalances

Cardiovascular: Hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, anemia

Musculoskeletal: Joint and muscle pain, fibromyalgia

Liver: Poor detoxification, elevated liver enzymes

Chronic inflammation affects literally every cell in your body. Virtually all significant diseases and conditions are related to chronic inflammation.

If the above symptoms are ignored, they can become a full-blown condition like a heart attack, congestive heart failure, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson?s, Alzheimer?s, ulcerative colitis, Crohn?s, Celiac, Hashimoto?s (autoimmune hypothyroid), Grave?s (autoimmune hyperthyroid), stroke, Lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, scleroderma, hepatitis, pancreatitis, autism, ADD/ADHD?the list goes on.

Lab Testing for Inflammation

Testing for inflammation can be exhaustive. This is a good list to start with to investigate general inflammation.

Root cause testing, including allergens, food sensitivities/allergies, heavy metal and toxin exposure, mycotoxicity, GI infections and dysbiosis, hidden infections, autoimmune conditions, and hormone testing may also be necessary.

General Inflammation:

  • High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP)
  • Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
  • Ferritin
  • Homocysteine
  • Lipoprotein a (Lp(a))
  • Apolipoprotein A1 and B (Apo A1 and B)
  • Complete blood count
  • Vertical Auto Profile (VAP) cholesterol test or lipoparticle protein testing (LPP)

Adrenal Testing:

  • Salivary cortisol testing with DHEA

Blood Sugar Regulation:

  • Blood glucose (blood sugar)
  • Fasting insulin
  • Hemoglobin A1C

Oxidative Stress:

  • Telomere testing
  • 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)
  • Lipid peroxides

Treatment of Inflammation

The treatment of inflammation can seem daunting since there are so many different causes.

The easiest approach is to clean up the diet, add in nutrients and make lifestyle modifications.

If you?re not getting the desired results, do some further investigating into root causes such as food allergies, autoimmunity, GI infections, impaired detoxification, toxic exposures (mycotoxins, heavy metals, chemicals), hidden infections such as Lyme or EBV, and proper hormone balance.

Diet: Dr. Mark Hyman, MD suggests, ?Eat an organic, whole foods, high fiber, plant-based diet, which is inherently anti-inflammatory. That means unprocessed, unrefined, real food high in powerful anti-inflammatory plant chemicals called phytonutrients.?27

As Dr. Josh Axe notes, ?Antioxidants are self-sacrificing soldiers that donate an electron to neutralize free radicals and are consumed in the process.? He suggests eating brightly-colored vegetables and fruits, cocoa, and green or white tea.25

Dr. Hyman also recommends getting an oil change. ?Eat healthy fats from olive oil, nuts, avocados, and omega-3 fats from small fish like sardines, herring, sable, and wild salmon.?27 These fats are anti-inflammatory and promote a healthy omega 3:6 ratio.

An elimination diet may help you find out if there are foods contributing to your inflammation. Eliminate these foods for at least 30 days and note how they make you feel when you add them back in.

Cooking your foods at a lower heat will help them retain nutrients and avoid forming harmful substances. Author Mark Sisson recommends poaching, boiling, steaming, braising, baking, or using a pressure cooker or crock pot.28 If you really want to grill or cook at high heat, marinating with olive oil, citrus, and herbs or spices will reduce toxin formation.

Nutrients and Supplements: There are many anti-inflammatory nutrients found in fruits, vegetables, teas, coffee, herbs, and spices. Here are some that can be helpful if you experience inflammation:

Magnesium and vitamin D exert anti-inflammatory action by decreasing cytokine production and prostaglandins, respectively.1,31

Vitamins C and E, zinc, and selenium function as antioxidants and protect against oxidative stress.

Curcumin blocks activation of a key protein that triggers the immune response and decreases cytokine activity according to research out of Ohio State University.29

Ginger is a root that has uses in many ancient traditional medicine systems. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory and a blood thinner.30

Boswellia (frankincense) is an Ayurvedic herb that, when taken orally or topically, provides anti-inflammatory properties through inhibiting pro-inflammatory enzymes.30

Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) functions as an antioxidant and supports healthy mitochondrial function.31

Essential fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from fish oil or krill oil is important since humans don?t efficiently synthesize it themselves. They modulate the inflammatory response and maintain balanced fatty acid ratios.1

Probiotics (?good bacteria?) increase the levels of healthy bacteria in your gut, which reduces inflammation.

According to neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, turmeric (curcumin), green tea extract, pterostilbene (from resveratrol), glucoraphanin (from broccoli), and coffee activate an important anti-inflammatory pathway (Nrf2), and taking these nutrients as supplements can be far more effective at increasing antioxidant production than typical antioxidants.26

Lifestyle Modifications: These are some of these easiest and most effective ways to reduce inflammation. Incorporating them into your life as habits will help promote long-term inflammation management.

Exercise: This is one of the most effective ways to decrease inflammation, since it has so many benefits?improved insulin sensitivity and body composition, decreased stress (when you don?t overdo it), and decreased signaling of inflammatory chemicals.32

Stress reduction: Stress is one of the biggest contributors to chronic inflammation, and managing it essential to lifelong health. Identifying stressors is the first step. Once you?ve done this, create boundaries, say ?no? when you have to, and make sure your feelings are heard and understood.

Relaxation: Learn to actively relax to engage your vagus nerve, the powerful nerve that relaxes your whole body and lowers inflammation, by doing yoga, meditation, deep breathing, or even taking a hot bath.27

Sleep: Getting adequate sleep is essential to healing. Aim for a minimum of 8 to 9 hours per night, and try to get to bed by 10 PM. Sleep in a dark, cool, and quiet room for the most restful results.

Unplug: Being constantly tuned in to your phone, computer, iPad, tablet, or TV exposes you to radiation and can also alter your sleep cycle due to blue light stimulation.

Detox your personal care products: If you won?t eat it, don?t put it on your body. Opt for natural or organic lotions and creams, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, and fragrance. You can make many for low cost at home from coconut oil, essential oils, and other common household items.

Detox your home: Look for natural and organic products here too to avoid toxic chemicals. Many cleaners are now being made from enzymes and plant soaps. You can also make homemade ones from vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, essential oils, and more. Keeping lots of green plants in the home helps detox the indoor air as well. Look for rubber plants, aloe, peace lilies, areca palm, golden pothos, and English ivy.

With a little detective work and some requisite effort, you could be well on your way to putting out the fire from within your own body that?s robbing you of your health. Learn to listen to your body and to notice the obvious signs. Your body is an incredible machine that?s designed to want to heal. All it asks of you?is to provide it with an?environment that?s conducive to this objective.

Testing For The Root Cause Of Your Digestive Problems

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Nothing says good morning quite like pooping into a toilet hat and transferring part of that specimen, using a spoon, into a test tube.?While this might sound a little gross on the surface,?it can tell you a lot about your health.

The condition of your gut and how well you can absorb, utilize, and eliminate nutrients represents the foundation of health in your body. Digestive symptoms manifest as anything from brain fog, fatigue and acne, to diarrhea, gas, and bloating. The symptoms are vast and can be confusing, so clearly knowing what you?re looking for helps.

Symptoms of Digestive Problems

Understanding your symptoms can be a useful guide for choosing the correct test.

GI: Gas, bloating, belching, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, undigested food particles or fat in stool, gurgling in stomach, acid reflux, malabsorption, cankers, altered motility or gastroparesis, and food sensitivities or allergies.
Immune: Allergies, asthma, chronic sinus infections, frequent infections such as urinary tract infections, Candida overgrowth, and autoimmune conditions.
Liver: Poor detoxification, recirculation of toxins and hormones from bacterial deconjugation, increased or decreased bile production, and pain under the lower right ribs.
Skin: Itching, hives, acne, rosacea, rashes, eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis.
Musculoskeletal: Joint pain, muscle pain, and fibromyalgia.
Brain and Mood: Headache, fatigue, neuropathy, brain fog, inability to focus, irritability, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, lack of coordination or balance, and poor memory.
Hormones: Fatigue, poor temperature control, weight gain or weight loss, poor sleep quality, food cravings, poor blood sugar regulation, and hormone imbalances.

Which Test Do I Choose for Digestive Problems?

Choosing digestive tests can be a daunting task, especially when the symptoms seem to be coming from everywhere in your body. Starting off with the basics and expanding from there is always a good way to proceed when doing any testing.

The first thing to consider is if the symptoms suggest an acute infection, such as parasites or food poisoning. If this is the case, then testing to identify the organism is best. This usually involves a stool test and/or blood testing.

If your symptoms are chronic or more vague, then approaching tests with a broader scope can more easily pinpoint the root causes (there are often many). Dysbiosis, malabsorption, nutrient depletion, and GI dysfunctions like increased or decreased transit time often occur together.

When using this approach, the first goal is to identify and eliminate all pathogens, because if they?re present, you?ll have dysbiosis. Next, identifying the composition of the gut flora and checking immune and gut function will help direct treatment in the healing and rebuilding phases.

Occasionally, things don?t go like you want them to?and further testing is warranted. Some companies offer specialty tests for food sensitivities or allergies (like celiac), detoxification, specific toxin testing, and hidden infections.?We?ll get to these types of tests later on.

Digestive Testing

General?tests can be completed by lab companies such as?LabCorp or Quest, as well as specialty labs:

  • Stool testing (1- or 3-day)
  • Serum blood testing for infections such as bacteria or yeast
  • Antibody or antigen testing for certain bacteria, yeast, or viral infections

Functional tests are more in-depth than standard digestive tests. They?re provided by specialty labs and often require a practitioner to request them for you:

  • Organic acids dysbiosis profile
  • Comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA)
  • Intestinal permeability
  • Lactose intolerance breath testing
  • SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) breath testing

Stool Testing

Stool testing is just what it sounds like?an examination of your stool for good and bad organisms, toxins, and the presence of blood.

Typically, stool tests incorporate a stool culture of common bacteria, microscopic analysis for yeast, fungi, parasites, and blood cells, and sometimes testing for toxins that organisms excrete, such as the Shiga toxins (E. coli) or Clostridium difficile toxins A and B.

Additionally, most of the functional/specialty labs do antibody tests for hard-to-identify organisms, such as Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum, Entamoeba histolytica, and Helicobacter pylori as a part of their normal stool testing.

One of the big differences is that some labs offer one-day tests while others offer three-day tests. The benefit to three days? worth of samples is that there?s a greater chance of identifying elusive GI organisms.

That?s not the whole story, though. While most labs rely on traditional methods to identify organisms, some labs offer PCR-based testing, which means they?re using DNA to identify and only require one sample.

Standard stool testing is offered by traditional lab companies. Expanded stool testing is offered by specialty labs such as BioHealth Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics, and Doctor?s Data. DRG Laboratory offers PCR-based stool testing.

Serum Testing for Infections

Serum testing requires a blood draw, and the sample will be used to identify any organisms in your bloodstream.?This may happen if you?ve had a systemic illness that may have spread from another area, such as the digestive or urinary tracts.

Bacteria, yeast, and other fungi are often identified in this manner. Yeast is especially important to consider here, because it?s opportunistic and will go beyond the limits of the GI tract in people with compromised immune function or co-infections.

This test is most likely to be conducted through a standard lab, at a hospital, or through your doctor?s office. It?s not something offered through specialty labs.

Antibody or Antigen Testing for Infections

Antibody testing is similar to serum testing in that it offers another means of identifying sometimes hard-to-locate organisms. Antibody testing can be done on blood or?stool. When you have an infection, your body mounts an immune attack and creates antibodies against that specific organism?s antigen (the protein your body identifies as foreign).

Antibody tests measure your body?s immune response to an organism. This type of testing lets you know that there was an organism present at some moment in time, but it won?t necessarily tell you if it?s active, since antibodies can remain elevated even after the intruder is eliminated.

Similarly, antigen testing can identify the presence of an organism. Performing a stool antigen test for H. pylori is a preferred method, as it?s less invasive than other methods and is both sensitive and specific for active infection.

Antibody and antigen testing can be run through standard labs, as well as via BioHealth Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics, Doctor?s Data, and DRG Laboratory.

Organic Acids Dysbiosis Profile

Urinary organic acids measure the byproducts of your metabolic processes. Specifically, it?s measuring the metabolites produced by the bacteria and yeast living in?your gut. This is a simple and non-invasive test, since it requires only a urine sample.

Intestinal bacterial overgrowth and yeast infections will cause elevated metabolites, and they?re also useful in assessing carbohydrate and protein malabsorption.

Urinary organic acid testing is available through Great Plains Laboratories and Genova Diagnostics.

Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA)

Comprehensive digestive stool analysis is another way to evaluate the health of the GI tract. Using microbial growth-based cultures, biochemical assays, and microscopic evaluation, this thorough test assesses the status of beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms, including aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, yeast, and parasites. Specific analysis includes:

  • Identification of pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and fungi, and levels of beneficial bacteria
  • Protein, carbohydrate, and fat absorption via elastase and chymotrypsin levels, as well as the presence of meat and vegetable fibers and fats
  • Inflammatory markers including lactoferrin, lysozyme, eosinophil protein x, calprotectin, and the presence of mucus or blood cells
  • Immune function via sIgA levels (secretory IgA)

Many of these markers can also be tested as smaller profiles or individual tests.?The full test is offered by Genova Diagnostics and Doctor?s Data, while DRG Laboratories can do a pared-down version with their stool PCR testing.

Intestinal Permeability Testing

This test provides a method for verifying the presence of increased intestinal permeability, also called leaky gut. Leaky gut allows food particles, toxins, and products of dysbiosis to enter the bloodstream, where an immune response mounts and inflammation is produced. It?s implicated in many conditions, from IBS to autoimmunity.

One version of the test, the Lactulose-Mannitol test, requires you to drink a solution of the sugars lactulose and mannitol. The degree of permeability is assessed by the amount of sugar recovered in urine.

An updated version of permeability testing called Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screening?assesses IgA, IgM, and IgG antibody reactions to bacterial endotoxins (LPS) that have entered the bloodstream. It also measures the tight junction proteins zonulin and occludin that break down in leaky gut, as well as a cell structure component called actomyosin. This test may more specifically show the route of gut barrier damage.

Genova Diagnostics and Doctor?s Data offer Lactulose-Mannitol testing. Cyrex Labs has the Array 2: Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screening.

Lactose Intolerance Breath Testing

Lactose intolerance is one of the most common food intolerances in the US. Consumption of dairy that causes gas, bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain is an indication for this type of test. Inability to break down the dairy sugar lactose because of a lack of the digestive enzyme lactase or intestinal irritation results in lactose malabsorption and digestive symptoms.

This test requires you to drink a lactose solution and then take breath samples over a period of several hours. It measures the amount of hydrogen and methane produced when undigested and absorbed lactose is fermented by gut bacteria.

Genova Diagnostics offers this test.

SIBO Breath Testing

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) occurs when large amounts of bacteria are present in the small intestine, where there are normally very few. The small intestine is where absorption largely takes place, so there?s little need of bacteria.

The symptoms are similar to lactose intolerance, because the bacteria are fermenting undigested foods (especially carbohydrates) and producing methane or hydrogen. Bloating, gas, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation are classic symptoms.

During this test, you consume solution of glucose or lactulose, and then breath samples are taken over a period of 2-3 hours. The test measures the amount of hydrogen and methane produced when undigested and unabsorbed lactose is fermented by gut bacteria. High methane is associated with constipation, and high hydrogen levels correlate with diarrhea.

Genova Diagnostic and Commonwealth Labs both offer this test.

Summary

There?s certainly no shortage of digestive testing for you to explore. If you don?t get answers from basic tests, perhaps it could be time to consider more functional testing. Many of the tests referenced above can be ordered through Direct Labs, and can shed much light on the root causes of your health symptoms- and like G.I. Joe used to say, knowing is half the battle.

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When to Test for Blood Sugar and Metabolic Imbalance

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

To tell you that sugar is bad for you would be beating a horse that?s long been dead. We all get it by now.?But what exactly does it do that?s so bad?

For starters, it?s a major source of inflammation, tissue destruction, brain degeneration, cardiovascular disease and depression.

Elevated blood sugar literally causes damage everywhere in the body and impacts other hormones, compounding this effect. What?s even worse is that it sets the stage for metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Low blood sugar doesn?t get as much press, since it doesn?t cause as much damage, but the downstream effects on other hormones are no less important.

Getting your blood sugar and metabolic hormones (such as insulin and cortisol) back in check is essential for reversing inflammation, aging, and many disease processes. Since blood sugar regulation reflects many disorders of metabolism, understanding the symptoms is?the first step.

Symptoms of Imbalanced Blood Sugar and Metabolic Hormones

The symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) include:

Brain/mood: Lightheadedness, jitters, fainting, dizziness, confusion, headaches, irritability, sadness, blurred vision/double vision, anxiety, hyperactivity, lack of focus.
Energy: Fatigue, weakness, energy surge post-meal or snack, feeling like you?re going to crash when you don?t have food, excessive hunger.
Hormonal: Hormone imbalances, especially low cortisol.
Metabolic: Sweating.

The symptoms of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) include:

Brain: Brain fog, irritability, difficulty focusing and concentrating.
Neurological: Neuropathy, paresthesia, pins and needles, tingling.
Energy: Lethargy, feeling sleepy post-meal, fatigue.
Skin/hair/eyes: Dark patches of skin on neck, elbows, armpits, and knees (acanthosis nigricans), skin tags, wounds that won?t heal, loss of hair.
GI: Nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, fruity scent to breath, dry mouth.
Metabolic: Increased thirst and urination, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, high blood pressure, abdominal fat, high cholesterol or triglycerides, fatty liver.
Hormonal: Hormone imbalances including estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol, PCOS.

How Can I Test?for Blood Sugar and Metabolic Hormone Imbalance?

Testing for blood sugar and metabolic hormone imbalance is more straightforward than other types of testing.

The goal is to find out if your blood glucose levels?and the hormones related to blood sugar management and metabolism?are functioning properly.

This can be determined with an initial set of tests that assess blood sugar levels and management, as well as hormone regulation. After initial testing is completed, additional testing may be warranted. If you find that you have elevated blood sugar with poor blood sugar management, evaluating inflammation, lipids, and cardiovascular markers is an important secondary step.

Blood Sugar and Metabolic Testing

Initial testing:

  • Glucose tests: Fasting glucose, 2-hour glucose tolerance test, hemoglobin A1C, and fructosamine.
  • Insulin tests: Fasting insulin and C-peptide.
  • Hormone tests: Adiponectin, leptin, and cortisol.

Secondary testing:

  • Inflammatory tests: Homocysteine, CRP, ApoB, Lp(a)
  • Lipid tests.

Glucose Testing

Fasting glucose (FBG) is the initial test completed when screening for blood sugar abnormalities and diabetes. It measures the levels of glucose in the blood after a period of fasting for at least 8 hours. FBG tells you if your blood sugar is high or low and can reflect metabolic imbalance. Blood glucose levels are largely dependent on 3 factors:

  1. The ability of the pancreas to produce appropriate amounts of insulin, as well the cells having the appropriate response and sensitivity to insulin.
  2. The liver?s storage and breakdown of glycogen (the storage form of glucose in muscles and the liver to be used later as energy).
  3. Adrenal hormone function (cortisol, epinephrine), which also impacts control of blood sugar levels.

Fasting glucose can also be measured daily at home with a glucometer.

A 2-hour glucose tolerance test (GTT) is done to assess how efficiently your body responds to glucose. This test requires an initial fasting blood draw followed by consumption of a 75 mg glucose drink. Two hours later, a second sample is drawn.

Normally, after you consume sugar, your body detects your high blood sugar, which causes the pancreas to release insulin so the sugar can be cleared from your blood and stored. The second measurement should be normal. If you have impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance, the blood sugar level will remain high.

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measures glycated hemoglobin, or glycohemoglobin, in the?bloodstream. Glycohemoglobin is formed when circulating glucose combines with the hemoglobin in your red blood cells (RBCs).

RBCs have a lifespan of 120 days, so the amount of glycated (also called glycosylated) hemoglobin is directly proportional to the amount of glucose present in the bloodstream during that period of time.

The process of glycation is irreversible, so the greater the concentration of glucose in the blood, the more it will attach to the RBCs. HbA1c is used to monitor long-term glucose control and assist with the management of high blood sugar.

Fructosamine, similar to HbA1c, forms when glucose binds to serum proteins. Fructosamine levels represent the total amount of glycated protein in the blood. This is an irreversible glycosylation process reflecting the average lifespan of serum proteins?about 14 to 21 days. It?s used to monitor blood sugar control, but it?s less common than HbA1c.

Insulin Testing

Insulin is the hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to glucose in the bloodstream that facilitates the transport of sugars into your cells.

Fasting insulin levels are measured after a minimum of 8 hours without food to detect insulin resistance, as well as high or low blood sugar.

If the pancreas doesn?t produce adequate insulin or the body loses its sensitivity to insulin (insulin resistance), blood sugar will be elevated, while fasting insulin will be low because of the lack of insulin production and high with insulin resistance.

C-peptide levels reflect how much insulin the pancreas is producing. High levels of C-peptide indicate increased insulin production, usually in response to high blood glucose levels or insulin resistance.

This test is useful for monitoring treatment of hypoglycemia and diabetes, since it only measures the body?s insulin production. It can also be helpful in distinguishing between Type I (autoimmune) and Type 2 (metabolic) diabetes, the diagnosis of insulinomas (insulin-producing tumors), and when autoantibodies are produced against insulin. Because of this,?C-peptide levels can be?difficult to measure.

Metabolic Hormone Testing

Adiponectin is a hormone produced by adipocytes (fat cells) that promotes proper?metabolism of sugars (carbohydrates) and fats (triglycerides). It also influences the body?s response to insulin.

High levels are beneficial and indicate efficient cellular energy production. Low levels are associated with metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Leptin is largely produced by fat cells and works in a feedback loop with the brain to regulate appetite and satiety. When sufficient amounts of food are consumed, leptin signals to the hypothalamus, telling the body it?s no longer hungry. Low leptin should signal hunger, and high leptin should signal satiety. The level of leptin you have directly reflects your total body fat.

Leptin deficiency isn?t common, but leptin resistance, much like insulin resistance, definitely is. It reflects the body?s decreased sensitivity to the hormone, resulting in increased production. Even though there are adequate amounts of leptin, hunger is still present since the signal isn?t getting to the brain efficiently.

Cortisol is a?hormone produced by the adrenal glands that literally impacts the entire?body by decreasing inflammation, regulating the stress response and circadian rhythms, and controlling blood sugar.

If blood sugar is high, cortisol stimulates the storage of sugar in the liver as glycogen. If you have cortisol dysregulation (adrenal fatigue or excess cortisol), your normal regulatory functions don?t occur properly, resulting in blood sugar dysregulation.

Cortisol follows a natural rhythm, peaking in the morning and falling throughout the day. Measuring this curve is best achieved through?a salivary or dried urine cortisol test with four measurements.

Metabolic Inflammatory Testing

Homocysteine is an amino acid produced as an intermediate product in the metabolism of the amino acids methionine and cysteine (the process is called methylation).

If methylation doesn?t occur properly due to a lack of key nutrients like B12, B6, and folic acid, or because of a genetic mutation (MTHFR), homocysteine levels can rise in the blood.

Elevated homocysteine is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer?s, cardiovascular disease, and stroke, since it directly damages the lining of the blood vessels. People with poor blood sugar regulation and diabetes are at an increased risk for elevated homocysteine.

C-reactive protein (CRP) or high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) is an acute phase reactant protein produced mostly?in the liver in response to inflammation. Elevated CRP is highly associated with metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, as they share the common root cause of inflammation.

Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) is a protein involved in fat metabolism and is a component of low density lipoproteins (LDL), also known as ?bad? cholesterol. Elevated levels are associated with insulin resistance, high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, and heart disease.

ApoB100 is an even more specific marker, as only one molecule of ApoB100 attaches to each LDL particle, allowing for the total number of lipoproteins in circulation to be quantified. ApoB100 is a better marker of cardiovascular risk than LDL.

Lipoprotein a (Lp(a)) consists of an LDL particle bound to the protein apoA. Levels of Lp(a) have a significant genetic component, and levels remain relatively constant over your lifetime. Elevated Lp(a) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Lipid Testing

Lipid testing determines whether or not a person?s cholesterol-carrying proteins are healthy or not. The standard lipid panel that measures LDL (low density lipoprotein), HDL (high density lipoprotein), and triglycerides measures total serum lipid numbers only. It can be a good general marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, especially when viewed with other biomarkers such ApoB and Lp(a).

Elevated levels of LDL and triglycerides, especially when taken in the context of other biomarkers, are associated with an increased risk of CVD, as is low HDL. This test is available through LabCorp and Quest and in expanded profiles from Spectracell, Genova Diagnostics, and Doctor?s Data.

Lipoparticle protein testing provides a more accurate assessment of your cholesterol and cardiovascular risk, as it measures the particle numbers and density. When considering each lipoprotein, size does matter. For example, LDL particles can be small, medium, or large, and the amount of cholesterol within the particles varies widely. Smaller particles are more predictive of cardiovascular disease and plaque buildup, since they can penetrate the arterial walls where the larger particles can?t.

Remnant lipoproteins (RLP) and intermediate density lipoproteins (IDL) are also associated with increased CVD risk. Large, buoyant HDL (HDL2) corresponds to a decreased risk of CVD. LabCorp and Quest offer this and call it VAP testing. Spectracell calls it Lipoparticle Protein Testing, and Genova has the CV Health Profile.

All testing that we?ve discussed can be done through Direct Labs, who has contracts with the traditional and newer labs. If you?re experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned earlier in this article, it could be worthwhile to get some simple testing done so you can know where you stand and make corresponding changes, if and where necessary.

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How to Test for Hidden Food Allergies or Sensitivities

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

If you?re experiencing a variety of health symptoms and?have no known food allergies or sensitivities, you might wonder why you?d need to test yourself for them. You may believe that simply cleaning up your diet and eliminating soda, baked goods, sugar, and processed foods is enough. And while that?s certainly a good start, it?s not nearly enough to eliminate the immune and inflammatory processes that food reactions can cause.

Since eating is such an automatic process for most of us, we never stop to consider whether the symptoms we?re experiencing are related to food unless the reaction occurs while we?re actually eating or very soon thereafter.

If you have brain fog, fatigue, congestion, rashes, joint pain, or headaches, there?s a pretty?good chance that your body is reacting to something you?re eating.

For many people, food is the most inflammatory substance they encounter on a daily basis. Because we eat multiple times a day, and because we?re creatures of habit, we tend to consume the same things, giving the immune system the opportunity to react.

Food sensitivities and allergies cause many symptoms, especially if you have a leaky gut. Any symptoms of inflammation or autoimmunity can point to food intolerances, so the list is vast.

Symptoms of Food Allergies and Sensitivities

The symptoms of food intolerance can?manifest quickly, as with a swollen tongue or anaphylaxis, but quite often the symptoms are delayed. This makes them hard to pick up on, as well as attribute to a certain food.

Immune/inflammation: Allergies, asthma, runny nose, post nasal drip, unresolved infections, autoimmunity, swelling, wheezing, coughing, anaphylaxis, throat closing.

Skin/hair/nails: Dermatitis, eczema, acne, rashes, scaly skin patches, hives, photosensitivity (sun sensitivity), hair loss, nail pitting, dry eyes, skin, and mouth.

Gastrointestinal: Stomach pain, GERD (acid reflux), IBS, gas, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying), canker sores.

Brain and mood: Headaches, brain fog, inability to focus or concentrate, double vision, blurred vision, poor memory, depression, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, lethargy, dementia, insomnia.

Nerves: Tingling, pins and needles, numbness, paresthesia.

Hormones: High or low blood sugar, weight gain or loss, excessive sweating.

Musculoskeletal: Joint and muscle pain, muscle weakness, fibromyalgia.

Liver: Poor detoxification, chemical sensitivity.

Cardiovascular: Low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, palpitations.

The First Food Allergy or Sensitivity Test To Perform

The first method of screening isn?t a lab test at all. It?s an elimination diet. Eliminating the most common sources of food intolerances is a great way to find out if you have an issue.

Removing gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, and nuts from your diet for 4 weeks, then adding them back one single food (not food group) at a time over a period of 3 days should tell you whether?your body is reacting to something.

If you have a?known autoimmune condition, you may also want to include the nightshade vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, and spices made from these, as well as gluten cross-reactive foods like coffee, chocolate, and the gluten-free grains.

If any of the previously mentioned symptoms appear during that 72-hour window, you should avoid that food for at least 6 months to give your immune system a break and let the inflammation go down.

This method can you help you to identify the source of your?food troubles, but for some, reactions can occur to even the healthiest foods, such as blueberries or?spinach, especially if they have a leaky gut. To further complicate matters, not only do the foods themselves cause a response, but the additives, colorings and gum resins (binders used in gluten-free foods) do as well. This is where testing can be valuable.

Food Allergies vs Food Sensitivities

Food allergies and sensitivities are very different issues. A food allergy occurs when the immune system identifies a food as a foreign substance and attacks it. This response occurs on a spectrum and can be anything from a swollen tongue to anaphylaxis, which is a potentially life-threatening reaction.

Food allergies are tested by measuring antibodies in the blood against particular foods. IgE and IgG are commonly measured. If you have an obvious response to a food, you can confirm it with this type of testing.

Food sensitivities are the more common and elusive form of food intolerance. They?re?more vague than allergies and are considered to be any toxic or inflammatory response to food. Quite often they?re mediated by a lack of enzymes, stomach acid, and/or a leaky gut. Celiac disease is a perfect example, where a severe intolerance to gluten causes the destruction of the surface of the small intestine.

Testing for food sensitivities offers a variety of options; antibody and mediator release testing (MRT) are two of the better ones available. No matter what test you choose, be aware that if you have a leaky gut, there?s a good chance you?ll be reacting to many of the foods you eat.

Food Allergy and Sensitivity Tests

There are several types of testing available for identifying food allergies and sensitivities. IgE testing represents the true food allergy test. IgG testing can also identify allergies, but more commonly, it shows delayed sensitivity reactions. The rest of the testing options are for intolerances or sensitivities only.

  • IgE antibody test
  • IgG and IgA antibody test
  • Gluten and gluten cross-reactivity tests
  • MRT test

IgE Antibody Testing for Food Allergies

Antibodies are produced when your body mounts an immune attack on a substance it has identified as foreign, which in this case is food. It creates antibodies against specific proteins (antigens) in that food. Antibody tests measure your body?s immune response to a particular substance or organism.

There are several categories of antibodies. IgE antibodies are created when your body has a true allergic response to a substance, which is why traditional food allergy testing analyzes antibody levels in the blood. An IgE allergy is considered a fixed allergy in that it will almost always provoke an immune response when the food is consumed. This type of food allergy elicits an immediate response.

This test can be completed by traditional labs such as LabCorp or Quest, as well as the specialty lab companies Alletess Medical Laboratory and Great Plains Laboratory. IgE?testing can easily be ordered online through Direct Labs.

IgG and IgA Antibody Testing for Food Allergies and Sensitivities

In spite of having an allergy, you can still yield a?negative IgE test result. This is why it?s important to test IgG levels as well. IgG antibodies measure a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, which can take up to 72 hours to occur. These are the more difficult reactions to link to a particular food, so testing can be helpful here. IgG antibodies are the most prevalent antibodies in systemic circulation and are the most common form of immune-mediated food responses.

While some IgG responses represent true allergies, most are hypersensitivities or intolerances. Similarly, IgA antibodies also represent delayed hypersensitivities. They can take many hours or days to occur and operate in a low-and-slow manner.

Traditional labs such as LabCorp or Quest will offer this test. Genova Diagnostics offers an IgG test. Alletess Medical Laboratory offers stand-alone IgG testing, combined IgG and IgE testing, and IgA testing. Cyrex Laboratories offers the Array 10: Multiple Food Reactivity Screen that measures IgG and IgA levels. The Array 10 tests raw and cooked foods, additives, gum resins, and brewed beverages.

All of these IgG and IgA tests can be ordered online through?Direct Labs.

Gluten and Gluten Cross-Reactivity Tests

If you suspect that you?re sensitive to gluten,?or even have full-blown celiac disease, testing is an important piece of the puzzle. Gluten testing involves analyzing the IgG and IgA response to various components of the gluten molecule, including several gliadins, glutenins, gluteomorphins (made during the digestion of gliadin), and the intestinal enzyme transglutaminase. It?s important to note that you must consume gluten for this test to be as accurate as possible.

Once you confirm gluten intolerance or celiac disease, completing gluten cross-reactivity testing is helpful, since these foods elicit the same response from the immune system as gluten does. This means that they contain similar protein sequences as the gluten molecule (molecular mimicry). Milk, whey, chocolate, coffee, soy, potatoes, corn, eggs, and most gluten-free grains (including rice) are considered cross-reactive.

Conventional lab companies offer gluten testing and the Array 4: Gluten Associated Cross-Reactive Foods test.?This test can be ordered online through?Direct Labs.

Mediator Response Test (MRT)

The MRT utilizes different technology than antibody testing. It quantifies the inflammatory response to specific foods and additives. Mediator release refers to the inflammatory chemicals that are liberated from your cells in response to a sensitizing food.

Instead of measuring antibody production, this test measures your white blood cells? chemical response to a food. It gauges the cells? change in volume, which comes from the release of inflammatory chemicals such as histamine and cytokines. A non-reactive food will produce no change, while a reactive food will produce an increase or decrease in cell volume.

This is a blood test and is only offered by Oxford BioMedical Technologies.

The Bottom Line on Food Allergy and Sensitivity Tests

Start with the basics and conduct an elimination diet. That alone will give you new information to work with. From there, spend money only on the testing that could reveal?new information that would alter your approach to food. If you?re already 100% gluten-free and are avoiding all cross-reactive foods as well, then gluten testing would be a waste of time and money.

So be smart and be proactive. Discovering hidden food allergies or sensitivities could make a huge difference in your day to day health.

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Why Taking Care of Your Liver Will Leave You Feeling Shiny and New

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Most of us have?felt that special feeling. You know the one. Great night out with friends, maybe even a special someone. And then the next morning rolls around. THAT feeling.

You wake up to a pounding head, nausea, aches, brain fog and an inability to focus. That?s your liver screaming at you.

Those extra few drinks just needed to happen, huh?

So those are obvious signs that we recognize easily, but did you know that when your hormones are out of whack, your blood sugar is erratic, and you constantly feel sluggish, your liver is STILL?speaking to you?

Most of us are great at listening to our bodies when we experience something as uncomfortable and excruciating as a bad hangover, but we?re more likely to ignore the signs when they?re less obvious or when they require lifestyle changes that we may not want to make.

The liver is the largest internal organ and has extraordinary resiliency, as it?s bombarded daily with an onslaught of assaults from air pollution, environmental toxins, medications, and microorganisms (bacteria, mold, fungi, and viruses).

?We are exposed to 6 million pounds of mercury and over 2.5 billion pounds of chemical toxins each year,? according to Dr. Mark Hyman.4 But the amazing liver isn?t fazed?it has the highest regenerative capacity of any organ in the body.

It?s clear that it takes a lot to knock the liver down, but somehow, in our crazy, high-stress lives, we find a way to do just that.

Impaired detoxification and liver function is the predecessor of many systemic diseases, including liver disease. At least 30 million people, or 1 in 10 Americans, has some type of liver disease.1

If you consider some of the other conditions where liver function is important, including autoimmunity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol, it?s obvious that proper liver function and detoxification are central to health. So it?s important that we recognize the signs of impaired detoxification before it has the chance to become a full-blown condition, because reversing it is much easier than reversing most chronic diseases.

What Exactly is Liver Detoxification?

Detoxification is the process of transforming and removing harmful substances from the body. Normally, the liver takes a toxic substance, then neutralizes and transforms it so that it can be eliminated in a healthy way that doesn?t damage the body.

Once your liver detoxifies and breaks down a substance, it?s excreted to the blood or bile for elimination. Blood products are filtered through the kidneys and eliminated as urine, while bile products are sent to the intestines and eliminated as feces. Some items are also eliminated through sweat and breathing.

When detoxification doesn?t occur efficiently and properly, the liver becomes taxed and sluggish, which impacts almost every system of the body in some way. The liver plays a role (to varying degrees) in most biological functions, being responsible for over 200 tasks. Here is a short list of some other liver functions that detoxification impacts:2,3

  • Conversion of harmful ammonia to urea
  • Clearance of bilirubin (if there?s a buildup of bilirubin, the skin and eyes turn yellow in a condition called jaundice)
  • Storage of essential vitamins and minerals, and conversion to their biologically active forms
  • Regulation of amino acid and protein metabolism
  • Maintenance of hormone balance

Impaired detox results in changes to all of the above processes, which can manifest as imbalanced hormones, high cholesterol, blood sugar abnormalities, decreased immune function, increased inflammation and pain, and a variety of symptoms ranging from fatigue and brain fog to rashes and headaches.

How Does Liver Detoxification Become Impaired?

Impaired liver detoxification occurs when any substance or disease process compromises the liver?s ability to perform its basic metabolic functions.

When your liver can?t function properly, toxins and metabolic waste back up and accumulate in your body, making you feel horrible and causing damage to your cells.

A good way to imagine this is to think about it like taking out the trash. If you empty the waste bins throughout your house daily, even every couple of days, you?re probably in good shape.

But what if you let it pile up for?a month, or even a year? Pretty soon you?re looking like you belong on a late-night cable TV show because your house is teeming with bacteria, mold, parasites, and volatile chemicals, soon to be deemed uninhabitable by the health department. When your liver can?t empty the trash on a continual basis, this is what happens inside your body.

Damage to your liver cells can occur through a variety of mechanisms:3

  • Metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver
  • A high sugar and carbohydrate diet or processed foods
  • Illnesses that produce toxins and inflammation or promote malabsorption
  • Infections such as Candida, viral hepatitis, and any GI infection/dysbiosis
  • Drugs and supplements
  • Pollutants, chemicals, and heavy metals such as BPA, parabens, smog, pesticides, fluoride, mercury, arsenic, etc.

What all of these processes have in common is that they damage liver cells in some form, whether from oxidative stress, inflammation, or a lack of the nutrients the liver needs in order to work properly. The damage results in impaired detoxification systems.

Detoxification processes in the liver are controlled by many genes and the Phase 1, 2, and 3 detoxification pathways. In order for detoxification to occur properly, the genes that control the process need the correct nutrients and environment (epigenetics) to properly regulate the enzymes that control the detoxification pathways.

One group of genes that have received publicity lately are the methylation pathway genes (MTHFR, MTRR, CBS, COMT, etc.), and rightfully so. This group of genes plays a central role in detoxification, as well as neurotransmitter, hormone, and amino acid metabolism, cardiovascular health, DNA synthesis, and gene regulation.

Sometimes there are changes in a gene?SNPs, or single nucleotide polymorphisms?that alter the function of the corresponding enzyme that controls a process such as detoxification.

When you have an SNP, it changes the gene?s instruction manual, which alters the way the enzymes work.

For instance, if you have one copy of an MTHFR (methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase enzyme) gene SNP, you?ll have a 30% reduction in the activity of the enzyme. If you have 2 copies of the SNP, you?ll have a 70% reduction in enzyme activity and significantly impaired detoxification. Many people have multiple SNPs in this pathway, resulting in reduced detoxification capacity.

Similarly, the 60 cytochrome P450 (CYP450) family of enzymes that are primarily found in the liver play a significant role in the breakdown of toxins. SNPs affect the CYP450 enzymes as well?especially those involving drug metabolism.

?Depending on the gene and the polymorphism, drugs and supplements can be metabolized quickly or slowly. If a cytochrome P450 enzyme metabolizes a drug slowly, the drug stays active longer and less is needed to get the desired effect. A drug that?s quickly metabolized is broken down sooner, and a higher dose might be necessary to be effective. Cytochrome P450 enzymes account for 70 to 80 percent of enzymes involved in drug metabolism.?5

The Phase I detoxification system is controlled by these CYP450 enzymes and is the first step toxins go through in the breakdown process. Once toxins enter this pathway, the substance undergoes a chemical transformation, producing an intermediate that?s often as toxic or more toxic than the original substance.

This isn?t a big problem if your Phase 2 detoxification pathways are sufficient, but there can be SNPs here too, reducing the process? efficiency and causing you systemic problems.

Phase 2 detoxification reactions involve the conjugation (coupling) of the Phase 1 intermediate to a substance, making it water-soluble and suitable for elimination via urine and bile (feces).

The Phase 2 conjugation reactions are glucuronidation, sulfation, methylation, acetylation, amino acid conjugation, and glutathione conjugation.

Essentially, what?s happening in all of these processes is that the intermediate is combined with a specific type of molecule that neutralizes it for elimination. For example, in methylation, a methyl group (CH3) is transferred to the intermediate. Once this process takes place, the neutralized substance can be eliminated.

Phase 3 of detoxification takes the neutralized substance and transports it out of the liver cell to be excreted in the urine or bile.

Diet, nutritional status, illness, toxic burden, dysbiosis, and SNPs all affect the efficiency of the detox pathways, and vice versa. Identifying any potential roadblocks and cleaning up your personal environment and/or lifestyle is necessary to have detoxification systems running at peak performance.

Triggers of Impaired Liver Detoxification

We have toxins around and inside us that come in many forms. If we don?t have healthy detox processes, they accumulate and cause damage all over our bodies. Common triggers of impaired liver detoxification are:

Diet: High sugar and carbs, processed foods, charred foods, xenoestrogens, water, GMOs, and conventionally-raised meats contain toxins.

Nutrients: Low levels of necessary amino acids, vitamins, and minerals impede efficient detoxification processes.

Dysbiosis: Infections and an imbalanced microflora produce toxins.

Leaky Gut: Increased intestinal permeability allows toxins into circulation that wouldn?t normally enter the bloodstream.

Toxins: Medications, supplements, alcohol, and environmental chemicals and metals burden the detoxification pathways and can directly damage the liver.

Stress: Psychological stress, toxic relationships, and illness produce biochemical changes that impair detoxification.

Diet

Dietary triggers of impaired liver detoxification are many and significant, since you eat multiple times every day. This provides lots of opportunities to ingest something harmful.

High sugar and carbohydrate diet: When you eat excessive sugar and carbohydrates or refined foods, they need to be stored somewhere if you aren?t using them for energy. They end up stored in the body as fat and in the liver as glycogen.

Over time, if this process continues, the liver becomes inundated with fat, which compromises its function and promotes inflammation and insulin resistance, according to Dr. Mark Hyman.6

Processed foods: Any foods that come from a package may contain trans fats, preservatives, colorings, dyes, additives, and artificial sweeteners that are seen as toxins by your body. Additionally, some foods you think are safe may not be. Most cans are lined with BPA, rendering the foods inside very unhealthy.

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, ?High acidity?a prominent characteristic of tomatoes?causes BPA to leach into your food. BPA is a toxic chemical linked to reproductive abnormalities, neurological effects, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and other serious health problems.?7

Charred/browned foods: Cooking foods until they have color may impart lots of flavor, but you?re also getting a hefty dose of toxins along with it. Grilling is the worst culprit.

Dr. Mercola says, ?Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are hazardous compounds created in meats and other foods that have been cooked at high temperatures.

Similarly, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) form when fat drips onto the heat source, causing excess smoke, and the smoke surrounds your food, transferring cancer-causing PAHs to the meat.?7 HCAs and PAHs are also present in deli meats.

Xenoestrogens: Xenoestrogens are substances that mimic the hormone estrogen. Foods and chemicals are sources of these compounds. Not only are they endocrine disruptors, but also toxins and carcinogens. Soy is the most common dietary source. Consumption of soy is linked to infertility, thyroid disruption, and breast and prostate cancers. Toxins produced in the processing of soy include nitrosamines, lysinoalanine, MSG, and aluminum.7

Water: Water can be one of the most toxic things we consume daily. Water can have microorganisms, chlorine, fluoride, agricultural and manufacturing runoff, pesticides, or heavy metals. Dr. Deanna Minish states, ?Current estimates suggest that there are more than 2,000 toxins in tap water.?14 Bottled water is often not much better.

GMOs: Genetically modified foods contain genes that aren?t native to the original organism, and your body sees them as foreign and toxic. Corn, for instance, might contain Bt toxin or Roundup Ready genes so that it withstands pests better. These toxins degrade the stomach of the target insects and are now found to be harming humans, causing allergies and immune system activation similar to that of inflammatory conditions.8

Further, the pesticide Roundup (glyphosate) has been proven to have harmful mechanisms. According to Dr. Mercola, a recent study found that ?glyphosate inhibits cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, a large and diverse group of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of organic substances.? This, the authors state, is ?an overlooked component of its toxicity to mammals (which means humans).

By limiting the ability of these enzymes to detoxify foreign chemical compounds, glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of those chemicals and environmental toxins you may be exposed to.?9

Conventional meat and produce: Food grown or raised with conventional methods (non-organic) has some level of toxicity. Meat, poultry, and fish can be given antibiotics and drugs that affect their growth.

Vegetables and fruit can contain pesticides or be genetically engineered. One potent class, the organophosphates, are linked to infertility and impaired growth and development, and they?re known neurotoxins.

Nutrients: In order for detoxification to proceed the right way, it requires adequate amounts of the necessary raw materials to do so. These include amino acids, B vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and sulfur-containing compounds. Deficiencies will result in impaired detox processes.

Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis occurs when there?s an imbalance between the beneficial and harmful organisms in your body, especially in the gut.

When this happens, the bad guys can produce toxins themselves or even undo all of the work the liver has done (deconjugation), allowing toxins back into circulation. While many organisms produce toxins (bacteria, mold, yeast, and parasites), here are some examples:

Candida: Yeast ferments sugars into ethanol and acetaldehyde, which are carcinogens that cause alcohol toxicity and hangovers. Candida increases levels of ammonia, which is another toxin.3 Yeast also produces toxins that allow them to bore into the intestinal wall, as some parasites and bacteria do.12

Clostridium difficile: Also known as C. diff, this bacteria produces several toxins that act on the gut and other cells of the body. These toxins are responsible for the awful diarrhea associated with an acute C. diff infection.

Mold: Molds are ubiquitous and often ingested in air and food. According to Dr. Jill Carnahan, ?Some molds secrete mycotoxins. Exposure to mold and mold components is well known to trigger inflammation, allergies and asthma, oxidative stress, immune dysfunction, and neurological damage in humans.?13

Leaky Gut

Increased intestinal permeability, also known as?leaky gut, occurs when the cells that line the?intestinal tract become irritated and compromised, actually spreading apart and allowing particles that wouldn?t normally enter the bloodstream to pass through. This causes the immune system to react to these substances, producing inflammation.

Some of the irritants that cause leaky gut are toxins ingested in medications, alcohol, food, and water, as well as the byproducts of any allergic or sensitivity reaction. Further, dysbiosis and any gut infections compound this effect by the contribution of the toxins they produce.

When you have a leaky gut, your overall toxic burden is increased, because many more substances enter circulation than usual, and your liver has to detoxify all of them. This can place a significantly increased burden on the liver.

Toxins

Toxins are everywhere in our modern society. Unfortunately, our exposure to medications, supplements, chemicals, pesticides, pollutants, petrochemicals, heavy metals, tobacco smoke, and even alcohol are byproducts of contemporary living, and most of us have exceeded our liver?s natural capacity to cleanse us. If we can?t rid ourselves of these toxins, they accumulate and are stored in the body.

Heavy metals are everywhere?in the soil, in our homes and food, and as byproducts of industries, car exhaust, and tobacco smoke, so they?re hard to avoid. Things like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum are damaging toxins by themselves, but they also compromise our detoxification pathways, making matters worse.

According to Dr. Mark Houston, ?Mercury, cadmium, and other heavy metals have a high affinity for sulfhydryl (SH) groups, inactivating numerous enzymatic reactions, amino acids, and sulfur-containing antioxidants (NAC, ALA, GSH), with subsequent decreased oxidant defense and increased oxidative stress.?15

This means reduced antioxidant and detox capacity. He further states, ?Mercury induces mitochondrial dysfunction with reduction in ATP, depletion of glutathione, and increased lipid peroxidation; increased oxidative stress is common.?15

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) include PCBs, DDT, dioxins, pesticides, flame retardants, Triclosan (the antibacterial chemical in personal care and cleaning products), and other chemicals. Like other toxins, they?re heavily present in food, water, soil, air, and products we use.

Over 80,000 POPs have been released into the environment, and we lack information on how they affect human health. We know they?re particularly toxic, causing infertility and endocrine hormone disruption as well as being immunotoxic, neurotoxic, and carcinogenic.16 They?re also linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.16

Even medications and supplements can have adverse effects on detoxification by damaging the liver. Certain prescription and over-the-counter drugs list liver damage as a side effect and a risk. Some of these include antidepressants, antipsychotics, corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) (particularly acetaminophen (Tylenol)), and others.3 Some herbal supplements are implicated here as well since they can be toxic to the liver if not used appropriately, such as kava kava, skullcap, and germander.

Stress

Not only do we have toxins that come from the outside, but we also generate them from within. Psychological stress, toxic relationships, illness, and anything else that disrupts your body?s natural balance produces biochemical changes that impair detoxification. But to fully understand toxicity, you must understand the concept of total load.

Dr. Mark Hyman explains this idea well. ?This is a total amount of stressors on your system at any one time, and what happens is like a glass filling over with water. It takes a certain amount to fill the glass, and then, after a certain point, you put more in and it overflows. When our detoxification system is overwhelmed, is overloaded, that?s when we start getting symptoms and get sick, but it may take years of accumulated stress and toxins to get to that point.?18

He further points out that stress is a significant contributor to the total toxic load, including ?the mental, emotional, and spiritual toxins that affect us; isolation, loneliness, anger, jealousy, and hostility, which all translate into toxins in our system.?18

Dr. Deanna Minich elaborates on that concept, stating, ?When we don?t properly ?eliminate? unhealthy emotions, we may experience increased levels of stress. Stress not only causes inflammation, but can elicit poor digestive function.?Those who experience chronic stress have a difficult time maintaining a positive outlook on life and are at greater risk for disease and premature death.?17

Chronic stressors cause an imbalance between the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems, producing increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Over time, the constant cortisol elevation and demand leads to cortisol resistance and diminished cortisol.

Cortisol is the main anti-inflammatory hormone in your body, and when levels are low, inflammation increases. This results in oxidative stress and free radical damage. This in and of itself can damage the liver, but it also increases the toxic load the liver must clean up. Further, these changes can also perpetuate dysbiosis and leaky gut.

Symptoms of Impaired Liver Detoxification

The symptoms of impaired liver detoxification are system-wide in the body.

Inflammation/immune: Pain, weight gain, lipomas (benign fatty tumors/deposits), cellulite, allergies, autoimmune conditions, recurrent infections, stuffy nose

Digestive/gastrointestinal: Gas, bloating, cramping, pain, diarrhea, constipation, inability to digest fats (oil in toilet or greasy stools), reflux (GERD), IBS, gallstones, nausea, bad breath, food sensitivities, allergies

Blood sugar: Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), fatty liver, Type 2 diabetes, cravings

Brain/mood/energy: Brain fog, dizziness, vertigo, fatigue, lethargy, depression, irritability, poor concentration, headaches, poor sleep, poor memory

Musculoskeletal: Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, muscle pain, joint pain

Skin/hair/nails: Rashes, hives, dermatitis, eczema, pruritis (itchy skin), excess or lack of sweating, acne, rosacea, liver spots (brown spots), red skin, flushed face, red/itchy palms, yellow skin or eyes, itchy eyes, dark eye circles, body odor, hair loss, cankers

Hormones: Hormone imbalances, PMS, severe menopausal symptoms, inability to lose weight, infertility

Detoxification: Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), inability to tolerate medications or alcohol, poor tolerance to hormone treatments

Lab Testing for Impaired Liver Detoxification

Liver function and organic acid testing is important so you know the state of your liver and detoxification pathways. When considering toxin testing, you need to be cautious, because some of the tests actually liberate toxins from storage in your cells, which can cause problems, especially if you have a leaky gut.

In general, it?s a good idea to make sure liver function has improved and the gut is healthy before testing and treating toxins.

General tests for liver function and blood sugar:

  • Total bilirubin
  • AST (aspartate aminotransferase)
  • ALT (alanine aminotransferase)
  • GGT (gamma glutamyl transpeptidase)
  • ALP (alkaline phosphatase)
  • Fasting insulin and glucose
  • CMP or comprehensive metabolic panel (will have most of the liver tests on it)

Functional tests:

  • Organic acids
  • Amino acids?urine, blood
  • Heavy metals testing?hair, urine, feces, blood, red blood cell
  • Toxic chemicals (such as BPA, phthalates, parabens, organophosphates, etc.)
  • DNA profiles for methylation and detoxification

Treatment of Impaired Liver Detoxification

Supporting healthy and robust detoxification takes a little effort. Cleaning up your diet,environment, and lifestyle and adding in some supporting nutrients will lighten the load on your liver.

Detoxifying your diet is a good place to start, since we consume foods and liquids many times every single day.

Drink lots of water every day! Have at least eight glasses to flush your system. Add some liver for an added boost.

Eating organic and GMO-free will help you avoid many toxins.

Make sure your diet is rich in phytonutrients. Certain plants are known to support detoxification. The Brassica family, which includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale, contains the sulfuric compounds sulforaphane and indoles (I3C) that activate the Nrf2 gene, which increases many of the detoxification enzymes, especially in Phase 2.10,11,20 Garlic also has sulfur compounds that exert the same effect. Other Nrf2 activators include curcumin from turmeric, capsaicin from hot peppers, and resveratrol from grape skin or wine.11,20

Many leafy green herbs and plants support detoxification, including dandelion greens, cilantro, parsley, watercress, and chard. Use them in cooking, salads, smoothies, and juices.11,19

Artichoke, asparagus, and beets are healing to the liver with antioxidants that prevent liver damage. Artichoke is also one of the best stimulators of bile flow.11,19

Be sure to wash your produce well?even if it?s organic.

Cook with lower temperatures to avoid generating harmful chemicals. If you must grill, marinating with olive oil, lemon, and herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and oregano will help decrease the amount of HCAs and PAHs formed.

Avoid packaged foods as much as possible, including drinks in plastic bottles.

Invest in a water filter that filters out chlorine, fluoride, metals, and microbes. Most sink-mounted and pitcher systems don?t do this.

Drinking green tea also supports Phase 1 and 2 detoxification pathways by increasing CYP activity.11,20

In addition to detox-supporting foods, there are nutrients obtained in supplements that directly support the liver and detoxification process.

Amino acids: This is one of the most critical nutrient groups, as these acids function in the detoxification process itself and serve as antioxidants.

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is the precursor to glutathione, the master antioxidant of the body and a significant component of Phase 2 detoxification.

Cysteine and methionine contain sulfur and contribute to the sulfation pathways. Methionine is also a methyl donor to the methylation pathway in its activated form, S-adenosyl-methionine (SAMe). Glycine also performs conjugation down the glycination pathway.10,20

Glutathione: Taking glutathione itself as a supplement or through IV therapy is helpful when levels need to be increased.

B vitamins: The B complex vitamins, especially B5, B6, B12, and folic acid are significant co-factors in the Phase 1 and 2 detoxification reactions that help drive the reactions forward. The methylation pathway is also very dependent on sufficient levels of B12 and folic acid.

Minerals: Iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium are all minerals that support the detoxification process as co-factors or through antioxidant functions.20

Antioxidants: Antioxidants such as alpha lipoic acid (ALA), vitamins A, C, and E, and flavonoids play an important role, since the detox process inherently produces free radicals that need to be quenched.10,11,20

Milk thistle: Silymarin is the polyphenol in milk thistle that promotes detoxification. The antioxidant capacity of silymarin can lower the liver?s oxidative stress associated with toxin metabolism, which has the effect of conserving cellular glutathione levels.11

Calcium-D-Glucarate: This nutrient helps prevent the deconjugation of toxins in the intestines by bacteria, thus preserving them for excretion.

Probiotics: Probiotics will help maintain the balance between good and bad bacteria in the gut, which supports healthy elimination and immune functions that in turn support the liver.

Diet and nutrients can support the detoxification process itself, but the other half of the?equation involves cleaning up your world.

Lifestyle changes involve some work, since they require you to read labels, investigate your personal environment, and make some changes, but the benefits to your health are worth it.

Start reading labels: The more you know about what you put in, on, and around your body, the better. If you can?t pronounce it, you should probably avoid it. Knowledge allows you to make healthier choices for you and your family.

Clean up your products: Choose more natural personal care products, toiletries, baby products, home cleaners (especially window and bathroom cleaners), and lawn fertilizers. These products are laden with preservatives and chemicals. Baking soda, coconut oil, white vinegar, lemon, and essential oils can fill many of these roles without the unwanted toxins.

Detox your furniture and home: Furniture, paint, flooring (especially carpet), and building materials also contain chemicals that give off gas, meaning they constantly emit these toxic compounds into the air and you breath them in. Opt for more natural materials like bamboo, latex, wool, and organic cotton.

Get some houseplants: Many houseplants such as English ivy, rubber plants, peace lily, golden pothos, spider plants, Boston ferns, queen ferns, and dwarf date palms are all great at filtering toxins from the air.

Air filters: Having HEPA filtration added to your heating and cooling system will result in more toxins and fine particulates being removed from your home air.

Open your windows: Indoor air can be more toxic than outdoor air, so open your windows and let your home and office breathe.

Shower filter: Invest in a shower water filter or a whole house unit. Your skin is the largest organ in your body (and the liver is the largest organ inside) with a high capacity for absorption. It will absorb toxins in the water you bathe in.

De-stress: Lower your stress levels by finding ways to either decrease your stressors and create boundaries or find appropriate outlets like talking, journaling, or exercising. Getting out into nature can be especially helpful.

Toxic relationships: If you have a person in your life who?s causing you to feel bad, hurt, angry, or frustrated, you should let them know if you can. If you can?t, then try to limit contact with them.

Sleep: Getting 8-9 hours of sleep per night is important, since this is when your body regenerates and heals.

Exercise: Movement is essential in keeping elimination going. Moving keeps your lymph and blood pumping, promotes bowel movements, counteracts inflammatory processes, and lets you sweat.

Sauna: Sweating is also a critical component of detoxification. You can do it through exercise or using a sauna. Saunas increase circulation and metabolic rate. Studies show that many metals, especially cadmium and nickel, are eliminated through sweat at higher levels than through urine.15

Bowel movements: Make sure you have 1-2 bowel movements per day. Daily elimination through the bowels, urine, and sweat are vital for proper detoxification.

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How Nutrient Testing Could Reveal The Root Cause of Your Symptoms

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Why would you want to test your nutrient levels, you ask?

Most micronutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids, don?t get much notoriety (except for vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids), but they should. These nutrients are the building blocks of every single process in your body, and without them, disease and dysfunction ensue.

Scurvy is a great example. Lack of vitamin C in the diet of British sailors during the 18th century caused bleeding gums and mucous membranes, poor wound healing, and spots on the skin. If left untreated, they would die from blood loss.

Vitamin C is essential for the formation of collagen in hair, skin, and nails, blood clotting, nerve and muscle function, and is an important co-factor in many biochemical reactions.

We take for granted that getting the correct balance of nutrients is required for maintaining good health. Even a small deficiency in one nutrient can have major consequences in the long run. Conditions ranging from acne to heart disease start with some type of nutrient deficiency or excess.

The symptoms are seemingly limitless, since almost every symptom has a nutrient component. So understanding the important ones is crucial?to good health.

Symptoms of Nutrient Deficiency or Excess

Skin/hair/nails: Brittle or dry skin, hair, or nails, lines on nails, bleeding gums, rashes, acne, rosacea, hair loss, spots on skin, darkened skin

Inflammatory/immune: Poor wound healing, recurrent infections, pain, autoimmunity, asthma

GI/digestion: Inability to taste, canker sores, constipation, diarrhea, reflux

Brain/mood/energy: Impaired sight, smell, or taste, hyperactivity, ADD/ADHD, malaise, lethargy, headaches, brain fog, inability to focus, depression, irritability, poor memory, poor sleep

Nerves: Neuropathy, paresthesia, pins and needles, numbness, tingling

Hormones: Sex hormone, thyroid, and adrenal imbalances, PMS, PCOS, severe menopause/andropause symptoms, inability to lose or gain weight, infertility, intolerance to cold or heat, excessive or diminished sweating

Musculoskeletal: Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, muscle pain or twitching, joint pain, brittle bones, osteopenia/osteoporosis

Liver: Poor detoxification, chemical sensitivity, intolerance to alcohol or medications

Cardiometabolic: High or low blood sugar, fatty liver, atherosclerosis, palpitations, arrhythmia

Which Test Do I Choose for Nutrient Deficiency or Excess?

When considering the possibility of nutrient imbalances, people often?start by assessing symptoms and trying to guess which individual nutrients might be associated with them. This is a less efficient way to do things, as you might miss important nutrients.

For instance, if you have neuropathy or tingling in your legs, you might look at vitamins B6 or B12, since they?re important for nerve function. But if the underlying cause is high blood sugar, you?d also want to know your magnesium, zinc, chromium, inositol, carnitine, lipoic acid, biotin, and vitamin B3, C, D, and E levels as well to have a more complete picture and treatment plan.

Since symptoms of nutrient deficiency and excess are vast, starting with a test that looks at many nutrients in an expansive panel is often a better way to go. The panels available now allow you to check multiple nutrients simultaneously, giving you greater knowledge of your body and the ability to rebalance nutrient levels properly.

Balancing nutrients appropriately is crucial, since too much of one and not enough of another can cause further trouble.

Nutrient Tests

There are many different types of test panels you could choose for analyzing your nutrient status. Depending upon your symptoms, condition, and health goals, you may want to select a smaller panel.

Or, if you?re unsure, a more expansive panel that looks at everything is a good choice.

Nutrient Panels:

  • Organic acid testing
  • Amino acid testing
  • Fatty acid testing
  • Combination nutrient testing

Organic Acid Testing

Organic acids (OA) are the end products (metabolites) generated by your metabolic processes,?and they are easy to measure in urine. Organic acid testing provides an indirect way of measuring nutrient status, since all of your metabolic processes require certain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other micronutrients to function properly. It you are deficient in specific nutrients, it will show up as increased or decreased metabolites in the urine.

Nutrient deficiencies have several effects on metabolic reactions. First, serious deficits will impede biochemical reactions from occurring at all, giving a result that is below test detection limits.

Deficiencies can also cause a reaction to be limited/inefficient?producing low levels of metabolites?or cause a backup (think log jam) because there isn?t enough nutrient cofactor to propel the reaction forward. This results in an excess level of metabolites in urine.

Organic acid testing assesses the nutrients involved in driving metabolic processes forward:

Fatty acid metabolism requires carnitine, B2, and lysine.

Carbohydrate metabolism requires thiamine (B1), B complex, lipoic acid, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, manganese, and CoQ10.

Energy production requires arginine, cysteine, CoQ10, B complex, lipoic acid, magnesium, and manganese.

B-vitamin metabolism requires B-complex vitamins (B1, 2, 3, 5, 6), lipoic acid, and biotin.

Methylation cofactors require B12 and folic acid.

Neurotransmitter metabolism requires tyrosine, 5- hydroxytryptophan (5 HTP), phenylalanine, B6, and magnesium.

Oxidative stress markers show the need for antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and lipoic acid.

Detoxification requires glutathione, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), taurine, arginine, aspartic acid, glycine, magnesium, B-vitamins, and antioxidants.

Dysbiosis markers indicate the need for glycine, glutamine, and an amino acid complex.

Organic acids testing is available from Genova Diagnostics and Great Plains Laboratory.

Amino Acid Testing

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into usable units, or amino acids, that are vital to life.

Non-essential amino acids can be made in your body, but some must be obtained through the diet. These are called essential amino acids. As individual amino acids, or linked as chains called peptides, they have many functions:

  • Building blocks of all structural tissue (bone, skin, muscle, etc), hormones, neurotransmitters, and enzymes
  • Pain control
  • pH regulation
  • Detoxification
  • Fat and cholesterol metabolism
  • Control of inflammation and immune function
  • Digestion

Amino acids can be assessed in the urine or blood. Genova Diagnostics, Doctor?s Data, and Great Plains Laboratory offer amino acid testing.

Fatty Acid Testing

Fatty acids are the technical term for what we typically think of as ?fat.? For example, fish oil is comprised of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Like amino acids, fatty acids can be essential or nonessential, and they play a critical role in sustaining life.

Having the proper balance of omega-3, 6, and 9 (polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fats) is critical for maintaining health. Among other things, fatty acids:

  • Generate cell membrane structure and regulation
  • Ensure healthy blood pressure and lipid (cholesterol) levels
  • Provide immune and inflammatory response and regulation
  • Decrease blood clotting (coagulation)
  • Decrease oxidative stress
  • Compose the structural tissue of the brain and nerves
  • Provide energy for metabolism

Fatty acids are analyzed from a blood sample. Genova Diagnostics, Doctor?s Data, and Great Plains Laboratory offer fatty acid testing.

Combination Nutrient Testing

Several companies offer comprehensive test panels that allow you to see nutrients, amino acids, fatty acids, and organic acids in different combinations, depending upon your needs.

Great Plains Laboratories can provide many different panels based on your condition or health goals. Basic and comprehensive panels for autism, ADD/ADHD, fibromyalgia, Tourette?s, mental health, and wellness options are available.

Genova Diagnostics offers a fat-soluble vitamin profile, ION profile, NutrEval, and ONE (Optimal Nutritional Evaluation) FMV, all of which analyze different combinations of nutrients, amino acids, fatty acids, and organic acids.

Spectracell Laboratories offers the Micronutrient Test, which assesses 30 key vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and fatty acids that are essential to health and often indicated in disease. Additionally, it provides assessment of total antioxidant function, an immune response index, glucose-insulin interaction, and fructose sensitivity.

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Why Autoimmunity Is Keeping You Sick And How To Reverse It

This article originally appeared on Healevate.

Do you feel fatigued even after you get a full night of sleep? Do you have achy muscles and joints, brain fog, an inability to concentrate, or insomnia? Do you get rashes, eczema, hives, or skin irritation? Do you have a?hard time?tolerating cold or heat? Do you get diarrhea, bloating, constipation, or stomach pain?

If you answered ?yes? to several of these, there?s a good chance you have an autoimmune condition. Many people suffer for years with a vague set of symptoms that look like many other conditions but can?t be clearly defined or put in a box. Today we know this previous gray area actually defines the symptoms that precede or are involved in the process of autoimmunity.

This inflammation-based condition is a hot topic receiving lots of press right now in the health world, especially in holistic functional medicine and natural medicine spaces. This is partially because some AI conditions are now easier to diagnose, but much is due to the fact that we now understand the role of the gut and root causes as mediators of autoimmunity, not just a breakdown of immune function. This is a message practitioners, patients, and researchers want to get out, as autoimmune diseases are so prevalent?they affect at least 50 million Americans.1

Until recently, it was standard thinking that AI couldn?t be reversed, but now we know differently. Identifying the root causes and reversing intestinal hyperpermeability (leaky gut) are at the core of reversing the autoimmune process in the body. Doing this, combined with some diet and lifestyle changes, could have you healing and feeling like an elevated version of yourself.

What Exactly is Autoimmunity?

Autoimmunity, at its core, occurs when the immune system attacks healthy tissues that it?s mistaken as a foreign invader.

Previously, science believed that it was purely immune dysfunction or an overactive immune system that caused autoimmune conditions. Knowledge has advanced now, and we know that there are lifestyle triggers that lie at the heart of immune system dysfunction. These triggers, combined with genetics and epigenetics (the environmental influence turning genes on or off) are what regulate the AI process.

There are more than 90 diagnosable autoimmune conditions today.2,6 Some of the more common conditions are ankylosing spondylitis, Addison?s disease, Celiac disease, Crohn?s disease, Graves? disease, Hashimoto?s thyroiditis, Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE), myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren?s disease, ulcerative colitis, and Type I diabetes, as well as allergies, asthma, dermatitis, and eczema.

This is only a short list of the conditions that have been described and categorized. In reality, you can have an autoimmune assault on any tissue in your body, and that process may not yet be defined, which can make diagnosis frustrating for you.

Even though there are many different types of AI conditions that are on a vast spectrum, they share one thing in common?that they?re all inflammatory in nature.

Chronic systemic inflammation sets the stage for an upregulated immune system that causes the body to attack itself.

The good news is that getting to the bottom of the root causes and making lifestyle changes can have a profound impact on the course of the autoimmune process, meaning that an AI disease doesn?t necessarily have to be defined to start reversing the process and healing.

How Does Autoimmunity Occur?

Dr. Amy Myers, MD, explains, ?Autoimmune diseases are born when your body is working hard to defend itself against something potentially dangerous, such as an allergen, a toxin, an infection, or even a food, and it fails to differentiate between the intruder and parts of your own body. Mistaking certain types of tissues for harmful substances, your body turns these antibodies against itself, wreaking havoc on your organs.?1

The origin of autoimmune conditions is multifactorial and additive, in that it takes a genetically predisposed person in the right environmental circumstances with a leaky gut to develop an improper immune response. Family history accounts for one-third of the risk for developing an AI condition, as certain genes have been identified that directly affect the immune system and play a role in its hyperreactivity.14

Dr. Alessio Fasano, MD, the director of the Center for Celiac Research & Treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, has spent decades researching autoimmunity and how the immune system malfunctions, which led him to deduce that every autoimmune disease has three basic ingredients: a genetic predisposition, an environmental trigger, and a leaky gut.8,14

He explains that identifying the first two components was easy, since science has long known that AI conditions tend to run in families and that they can be triggered by infections, but the leaky gut component wasn?t identified until 2000, when he and his research team isolated the protein responsible for regulating gut barrier function, zonulin.14

Leaky gut, or increased intestinal permeability, arises when gut barrier function is compromised, allowing large particles that don?t normally enter the bloodstream to pass through. These particles are then triggers, causing the immune system to respond.

The environmental triggers are food sensitivities, allergens, toxins, and stress, which turn on the genes that initiate the AI process. This also generates chronic inflammation that perpetuates leaky gut and immune system activation.

Once the environmental triggers have entered the bloodstream, the immune system becomes primed and ready to defend, launching a biochemical war.

This war creates inflammation that activates certain genes, sustaining the immune response and allowing it to continue. As the war rages on and the immune system is on high alert, some confusion may arise, and the body may begin to attack itself.

One of the mechanisms believed to fool the immune system into thinking your body?s cells are pathogens is molecular mimicry. Molecular mimicry arises because there are specific protein sequences, or antigens, on the surface of certain microbial cells or foods that are similar to certain body cells such as the thyroid, intestinal cells, or nerves, essentially tricking the immune system. It loses its ability to clearly discern between self and non-self.

According to the ?Thyroid Pharmacist? Dr. Izabella Wentz, ?This inadvertently causes a cross-reaction with our ?self? antigens, i.e., our own cells. This case of mistaken identity is thought to trigger the start of autoimmunity.?4

Similarly, another mechanism of autoimmunity occurs when toxins alter DNA and cause gene mutations. These mutations change the structure of tissues, causing the immune system to identify them as foreign and producing an assault on your body.

Triggers of Autoimmunity

The triggers that produce autoimmunity often occur together with the immune system responding to multiple ?insults? at the same time, since chronic inflammation mediates this process. Identifying the triggers and eliminating them is the key to reversing inflammation, calming the immune system, and shutting down the AI process. Common triggers of autoimmunity are:

  • Leaky gut
  • Dysbiosis and infection
  • Food sensitivity
  • Toxins
  • Stress

Trigger of Autoimmunity: Leaky Gut

Intestinal hyperpermeability, or leaky gut, starts when a trigger such as toxins, dysbiosis, stress, or food sensitivity creates inflammation, causing a dysfunction in zonulin, which regulates gut barrier function.

Fasano states, ?Zonulin works like the traffic cop of our bodies? tissues. It opens the spaces between cells, allowing some substances to pass through while keeping harmful substances out.? 6,8

Intestinal hyperpermeability occurs when there?s a breakdown in the function of zonulin, allowing larger particles such as bacteria, toxins, and partially-digested food particles through the intestinal walls to the bloodstream, where the immune system generates a reaction to clear them out. In genetically-susceptible individuals, these substances can eventually elicit an exaggerated or erroneous response, and the body can begin to assault its own tissue.

Leaky gut provides an easy access gateway to the immune system, when normally these particles would be kept out of the bloodstream. Under normal circumstances, when you encounter a typical foreign invader, such as a virus, bacteria, parasite, fungus (mold and yeast), or toxin, your immune system should answer by generating a response to anything it perceives to be a threat to your survival. In the case of autoimmunity, these large particles that have entered the bloodstream through a leaky gut cause an immune response that produces antibodies to the particles themselves and to the tissues of your body.

The causes of leaky gut must be eliminated and intestinal barrier function properly restored in order to reverse autoimmunity.

Trigger of Autoimmunity: Dysbiosis and Infection

Dysbiosis is the product of an imbalance between the beneficial and harmful organisms in your body, especially the gut. Healthy individuals have lots of the good guys within the GI tract that assist with digesting food, producing nutrients, and protecting from harmful organisms and inflammation.

When there?s a general imbalance between the good and bad flora, or when there?s an infection present, such as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), Candida (yeast), parasites, or mold, dysbiosis will arise. This imbalance allows for leaky gut to occur, since chronic inflammation develops as a byproduct, and it contributes to the deterioration of the intestinal barrier.

Native (commensal) and infectious organisms, like large particles leaked from the gut, can also trigger autoimmunity through molecular mimicry. Your body mounts an immune response, which is great when it zeroes in on a cold virus that shouldn?t be there, but it?s a problem when it mistakenly assaults your thyroid while it?s attacking H. pylori.4

There are many organisms implicated in the molecular mimicry process of autoimmunity, such as H. pylori (causes stomach ulcers and GI infections), Yersinia enterocolitica (causes GI infections), and Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease), which may trigger Hashimoto?s thyroiditis.4

When the immune system sees Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella, Chlamydia trachomatis, and several other gram-negative bacteria, it ?recognizes? the self protein HLA B27 and attacks, inducing spondyloarthropathies, which are inflammatory conditions that include ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and reactive arthritis (Reiter?s Syndrome).5 Viruses can also be triggers, as with multiple sclerosis and lupus, as well as the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).5

Many other AI conditions can have a molecular mimicry component as well.

If you have an AI condition, it?s worth investigating to see if you have dysbiosis or an infection that may be perpetuating the process.

Trigger of Autoimmunity: Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities are very common in those with autoimmunity. The usual suspects are gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, soy, and corn, although you can have a reaction to any food you eat, especially those you consume frequently. Lectins, which are proteins found in legumes and grains, also activate the immune system and are implicated in autoimmunity.

These sensitivities generally arise when the partially-digested food particles enter the bloodstream through a leaky gut. Additionally, under the right circumstances, a cross-reactive process may ensue as well.

In another case of mistaken identity, foods produce a cross-reactive response through the same antigen-antibody-mediated process that the microorganisms produce.

According to PhD scientist Sarah Ballantyne, aka The Paleo Mom, ?For those 20% of us with Celiac disease or gluten-intolerance/sensitivity (whether diagnosed or not), it?s critical to understand the concept of gluten cross-reactivity. Essentially, when your body creates antibodies against gluten, those same antibodies also recognize proteins in other foods. When you eat those foods, even though they don?t contain gluten, your body reacts as though they do. You can do a fantastic job of remaining completely gluten-free but still suffer all of the symptoms of gluten consumption?because your body still thinks you?re eating gluten.?7

Gluten is one of the most sensitizing substances we consume, and eating the cross-reactive foods can be just as bad, since they elicit the same response. Common cross-reactive foods are rye, barley, spelt, Polish wheat, oats, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, amaranth, quinoa, corn, rice, potato, hemp, soy, teff, milk, chocolate, yeast, coffee, sesame, tapioca, and eggs.7

When you have an autoimmune condition, you?re best served by eliminating gluten completely and any cross-reactives that are triggers for you. There?s no middle ground here?it?s all or nothing, because even one little bite will provoke a potentially hazardous flare-up.

Trigger of Autoimmunity: Toxins

When it comes to autoimmunity, you need to be concerned with the toxins inside and outside the body.

Toxins are all around us in the air, water, soil, and our food supply. We?re exposed to astounding amounts of pollution. Over 80,000 chemicals have been introduced into our society since 1900, and only 550 have been tested for safety.9

Dr. Donna Nakazawa, MD and author of The Autoimmune Epidemic, calls these?environmental toxins ?autogens,? since they create a reaction against the self.9

The toxins we take in can alter our DNA, producing gene mutations that change tissues. The immune system can attack these tissues since they?re not identical to your healthy tissues. Furthermore, the toxins can alter gene expression by turning on genes that promote inflammation, which can then produce autoimmunity and leaky gut. These are some of the more common toxins:

Heavy metals: Mercury, lead, cadmium, bismuth, arsenic, tin, and aluminum

Plastics: BPA, BPS, BPF, and phthalates

Food: Pesticides, herbicides, BT toxin (from GMOs), preservatives, additives, colorings, Teflon (non-stick cookware), and aflatoxins on peanuts and grains

Environmental chemicals: Chlorine, fluoride, bromine, xylene, dioxin, toluene, and PCBs

The organisms that normally reside within us, as well as the pathogenic invaders, can also produce toxins. Mold produces mycotoxins. Bacteria have two toxic mechanisms?the excretion of toxins called exotoxins and the endotoxins on the cell membrane of gram-negative bacteria. These toxins activate the immune system and produce inflammation.

Trigger of Autoimmunity: Stress

Chronic stress has many negative impacts on health, especially with regard to autoimmunity.

Chronic stress produces constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Over time, constant cortisol elevation leads to cortisol resistance, where the body has to produce more and more to achieve the same response. When this happens for prolonged periods of time, cortisol levels become chronically low, and adrenal fatigue develops. Cortisol is the primary anti-inflammatory hormone in your body, and when levels are chronically low, low-grade inflammation rages, paving the way for autoimmunity.

Additionally, chronic stress alters immune function over time, causing some aspects to be amplified and others to be diminished, producing dysregulation.

A 2009 study on autoimmunity revealed that ?most interestingly, the release of endogenous glucocorticoids [cortisol] is critical in regulating the severity of disease activity in patients with inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Blocking of cortisol production results in a flare-up in disease activity in RA patients, while surgical removal of the adrenals in patients with Cushing?s disease has been reported to exacerbate autoimmune disease.? This clearly illustrates cortisol?s critical role in immune function and inflammation.10

Chronic stress produces physiological changes such as decreased blood flow, oxygenation, motility, enzyme output, and nutrient absorption that directly impact the intestinal flora and gut function.11 Since 70-80% of the immune system is within the gut, this means decreased gut and immune function, which can impact autoimmunity. Further, stress diminishes immunity by depleting the antibody secretory IgA (sIgA) as well as essential hormones, and it promotes inflammation, which can all result in a leaky gut.12

Symptoms of Autoimmunity

Autoimmune conditions are characterized by a myriad of symptoms that can be vague and varied, waxing and waning, making diagnosis difficult. Inflammation, being central in the AI process, is the root of many of these symptoms.

Immune: Allergies, asthma, chronic or recurrent infections that won?t resolve, or yeast infections

Skin/hair/nails: Dermatitis, eczema, acne, rashes, scaly skin patches, hives, photosensitivity (sun sensitivity), hair loss, nail pitting, or dry eyes, skin, and mouth

Gastrointestinal: Food sensitivities, food allergies, stomach pain, GERD (acid reflux), IBS, gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying)

Brain and mood: Headaches, brain fog, inability to focus or concentrate, double vision, blurred vision, poor memory, depression, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, lethargy, dementia, or insomnia

Nerves: Tingling, pins and needles, numbness, or paresthesia

Hormones: Poor blood sugar regulation (high or low blood sugar), weight gain or loss, cold intolerance, imbalanced female and male hormone systems, poor sleep quality, thyroid imbalances, adrenal imbalances, or multiple miscarriages

Cardiovascular: Palpitations, hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, anemia, or blood clots

Musculoskeletal: Joint and muscle pain, muscle weakness, or fibromyalgia

Liver: Poor detoxification, elevated liver enzymes, or chemical sensitivity

Lab Testing for Autoimmunity

Lab testing for autoimmunity can be exhausting and broad, since there are so many options. It?s best to start with the basics first and consider general blood tests.

General AI Tests:

ANA (anti-nuclear antibody)
ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate)
CBC (complete blood count)
CRP (C-reactive protein)
APA (antiphospholipid antibodies)
RF (rheumatoid factor)

GI Infections:

Stool analysis (general)
CDSA (comprehensive digestive stool analysis?looks at organisms, inflammation, and leaky gut)

Food Sensitivities/Allergies:

IgE test for allergies
IgG or IgA test for sensitivities/intolerance
Mediator release testing

Once you?ve pursued these avenues, testing for specific conditions may be in order, such as TPA (thyroperoxidase antibody) and TGA (thyroglobulin antibody) for Hashimoto?s. Cyrex labs has several tests specifically designed for autoimmunity, food intolerances, and intestinal permeability. The Array 5: Multiple Autoimmune Reactivity Screen tests twenty-four different tissues for AI activity.13

Treatment of Autoimmunity

Treating autoimmunity can be?easier than you think. Many people get some level of resolution with lifestyle changes and even further resolution when specific lab testing uncovers hidden infections, toxicity, or low cortisol levels that can be treated.

The easiest way to work your way through treatment is to take a systematic approach so you can more easily see what?s working and what isn?t.

Diet: This is the best place to start, since you?ll need some time to identify which foods you should be avoiding; making permanent dietary changes can yield massive benefits when it comes to autoimmunity.

The first step is to begin a 30-day elimination diet. You can make this basic and eliminate the usual suspects that trigger reactions like gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and nuts, but you?d be better off eliminating known AI triggers as well. These include seeds, eggs, legumes and grains (because of the lectins), and nightshades (all varieties of peppers, potatoes, eggplants, etc). You may even choose to stop eating gluten cross-reactive foods as well if you know you have issues with gluten. After 30 days, you can begin the re-introduction phase to see if you have any reaction to each food.

If you want to jump right into a diet change, Paleo can be a good place to start, since it naturally eliminates many of the AI triggers. The first study ever completed on autoimmunity and the Paleo diet was published in 2014 by Dr. Terry Wahls, MD and author of The Wahls Protocol. Although it was a small study, it illustrated the beneficial effects of adopting a Paleo diet in relation to AI disease?especially a reduction in fatigue.3,15

The Autoimmune Paleo diet takes it one step further and eliminates all food triggers of AI. Dr. Ballantyne has the Paleo Approach, and Dr. Datis Kharrazian both have versions of this that are great resources. Dr. Kharrazian?s AI diet focuses on gut healing and is a simple version that includes many meats, vegetables, fermented foods, coconut, certain herbs and spices, low glycemic fruit, and some condiments.16

With all of the diet information out there, knowing what to eat can be very confusing, but with some work you can do it. As with any diet, you need to tailor it to your own specific biochemical needs. This means that some of the foods on the ?avoid? list might be okay for you, and some acceptable foods may not be.

You need to figure this out to optimize your diet and health. Find your ?you? diet.

Nutrients and Supplements: There are so many different nutrients necessary for treating autoimmunity and inflammation. The following are some examples of anti-inflammatory and gut-healing nutrients you can start with:

Magnesium, vitamin D, and EPA/DHA (omega-3 fatty acids) are recommended by Sarah Ballantyne for their important anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects.3,17

Vitamins C and E, zinc, and selenium function as antioxidants and protect against oxidative stress.17

Glutathione is a critical nutrient, as it?s the master antioxidant in the body, and there?s a significant breakdown with its function in AI. Taking supplemental glutathione (or its precursor, NAC (n-acetyl cysteine)) with alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and glutamine will help recycle glutathione efficiently. ALA also functions as an antioxidant and supports healthy mitochondrial function. Glutamine is an essential nutrient for intestinal cells and helps repair leaky gut (along with glutathione).18

Probiotics (?good bacteria?) increase the levels of healthy bacteria in your gut, which reduces inflammation and combats leaky gut.17

Digestive enzymes and betaine HCL are often necessary, since nutrient malabsorption plays a role in leaky gut and AI.17

Clean up your life: Eat organic foods, avoid GMOs, and choose more natural cleaning and personal care products to reduce the toxic burden on your body.

Reduce your stress levels: Stress is one of the main contributors to inflammation and poor immune function. Identify and manage your stressors. Reduce stress by creating boundaries, honoring your feelings, and organizing your life.

Relax: Take time-outs during the day to unplug and rest. Schedule downtime to give your body a rest by journaling, yoga, or meditation. Do what speaks to you.

Get into nature: Nature has significant healing benefits, so try to get out and enjoy it at least once per week.

Sleep: Getting adequate sleep is essential to healing. Avoid blue light stimulation from TVs, phones, and tablets for at least 2 hours before bed. Aim for a minimum of 8 to 9 hours per night, and try to get to bed by 10 PM. Sleep in a dark, cool, and quiet room for the most restful results.

Exercise: Moving your body is important to maintaining health and the healing process, but know your limits. Pushing too hard or too fast can delay your recovery. Give yourself adequate rest time, and only do what your body is telling you it can handle. In general, long-duration endurance exercises deplete cortisol and promote inflammation, so it may be best to avoid this and opt for walking, hiking, yoga, pilates, or weight lifting.

Empower yourself: Knowledge is power, so educating yourself on your condition makes you your best advocate. This knowledge will equip you with the best opportunity to manage your AI condition to give you the best quality of life.

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3 Natural Eczema Remedies to Start Healing

Have you tried the drug store potions, over the counter (OTC) medications, or even prescriptions only to have little to no improvement in your eczema?

This is a common theme in my virtual clinic. We see many people that?ve tried everything, including things we recommend like diets or supplements, only to have a small change in their eczema. So, what?s going on??

The truth is that eczema, like any other chronic inflammatory or autoimmune condition, is complex and the causes are different for each person. This makes it difficult to treat, especially self-treat.

Super frustrating, right?

There?s a small percentage of people that can eliminate the common food triggers and take a couple of supplements, and achieve resolution of eczema. However, this is rare. If they don?t maintain their diet or have a major stressor, the eczema usually returns because they haven?t addressed the underlying causes.

You might be thinking- what do I do?

Addressing the root causes like stress, hormone imbalance, diet, gut infections, nutrient/vitamin deficiencies, and immune dysfunction provides long term resolution, but in the meantime here several natural eczema remedies to help control the symptoms and start healing.

Topicals

Don?t: Petroleum jelly goes under many names such a Vaseline?, petrolatum, mineral oil, or paraffin, and it?s a byproduct oil refining that contains compounds such as hydrocarbons that are harmful to health. It also seals the skin, trapping potentially harmful bacteria and letting the skin breathe.

Even worse, it can cause collagen breakdown which is the opposite of what you want if you have eczema.

Do: Shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and jojoba oil are all great options and each their own benefits. Some people find they work well alone, but in practice we?ve seen that people usually benefit from a combination.

You can purchase one like Moon Valley Organics EczaCalm (there are many other options available and we?ll be doing a review of our favorites so stay tuned). ?You can also customize a blend of your own with our Healing Salve recipe. The recipe can be altered with different base butters, oils and essential oils.

Remember, topicals help soothe the skin, but real healing comes from inside the body.

Supplements

Supplements seem to be an obvious starting place for natural eczema treatment, but in reality are a complex task to tackle, especially alone.

Don?t: Sadly, we see many people that are either on 20-30 supplements at once (YES?this is real unfortunately) and have no relief and lots of wasted money!!

The truth is this could be making the situation worse since you don?t know what ingredients are helping or hurting. Plus, there are the fillers, binders, and additives to consider as well as the active ingredients that could be causing issues.

Do: Start simply. Use single or few ingredient products that are clean, well sourced, and have a good reason for you to invest in them.

Here are two great options that have worked well in our clinic:

Collagen Protein has many benefits. It?s a critical building block of our skin that is compromised with eczema and it helps heal the gut which is a primary root cause in eczema and other autoimmune conditions.

Bifidobacterium based probiotics reduce histamine and can help heal the gut. This 2008 study shows using B. infantis and B. longum reduced histamine signaling which can translate to less itching.

Diet

Again, diet is often difficult to navigate on your own (even harder than supplements). We?re all different and for some just taking out a couple of foods or food categories may work, but no one will ever respond to the same exact diet (not even identical twins).

Don?t: Taking on too many dietary changes at once can be overwhelming and lead to unnecessary (and unwanted) stress. Don?t try removing gluten, dairy, salicylates, and histamines all at once. This will leave you with nothing to eat and likely cause confusion.

Do😕 Take baby steps with diet and monitor closely so you know what?s going on. An easy stepping stone is to remove all gluten or dairy products for 3-4 weeks minimum (you can do both if you?re willing). When you re-introduce them watch for reactions not only on your skin, but digestion, headaches, runny nose, fatigue, and achy muscles or joints.

Eggs, soy, corn, or nuts might be good options for you to test eventually too. If you find the main food allergens and sensitivities aren?t your problem, then it might be time to look at broad categories like salicylates or histamines.

The Bottom Line

These are all good, natural eczema remedies to start with and are things we recommend in the clinic while we?re working on reversing the root causes since the ultimate goal is healing on the inside and outside.

We?d love to hear what natural remedies have worked best for you?

7 Interventions to Stop the Eczema Flare Before It Erupts

Get out of the Stress-Eczema Flare-Clear Skin-Repeat Cycle?

Is your life causing your eczema flares? Read on to find out if it is…

I believe it?s possible to teach old dogs new tricks. Yes, I?m referring to myself as an ?old dog? even though I?m not that old! However, it?s a fitting phrase to describe when I decided to retrain myself not to get stuck in the cycle of stress-eczema flare-clear skin-repeat.

My pattern was pretty obvious. I take good care of myself on every front except?drum roll?stress management. This is true for most of us, but this is a huge part of what I do to help heal people.

Yet, I wasn?t doing it for myself.

I was too focused on my job, side projects, and raising my son who was a baby at the time.

I dove into everything head first and never said no. I was all GO, GO, GO, 24/7.

Until my body would hit the wall from stress and I?d start get flare ups on my hands, wrists, forearms, stomach, and thighs. Tingling would turn into little red spots that itched so bad they?d spread out like an oil spill. Broken, inflamed skin would leave ugly patches.

I was especially embarrassed of my hands, wrists, and arms because people could see them. The palms of my hands and wrists were the worst unfortunately and people would sometimes look a little too long when I handed them payment, opened doors, or waved hello.

It?s amazing how many things our hands are involved in and how self conscious you can become once you?re aware that people are looking.

Gloves year round, anyone???

My usual approach was once I got sick of dealing with it, I?d really dial in my diet, take anti-inflammatory herbs, and engage in some stress reduction. That usually did the trick.

The itching would soon begin to subside, redness would retreat, and the bumps and patches would fade. After several weeks of being ?good,? my skin would be clear again. AWESOME!!!

Then, I?d go back to my normal routine and inevitably have a flare up within a couple of months that was worse than the one before. It also started to get harder to treat.

Clearly I had a very short memory and I wasn?t learning from my past history!

Breaking the Cycle

After this cycle had been going on for over a year, I decided something need to change (there?s a longer version of this story that I?ll save for another day, but I?ll share the most important piece now).

The key change in retraining myself was managing my stressors. I needed to practice what I preached to my patients. Priority number one was establishing boundaries and stepping away from being a ?yes? girl. I started to say ?No? to many opportunities when I felt I had too much on my plate or felt I couldn?t give 100%. I also said ?No? to social and family events if I was busy or starting to feel like I was being pulled in too many directions.

I also did a better job of decompressing and taking care of me, which meant giving myself breaks to exercise and have some quiet down time daily to do some deep breathing, journaling, or meditate (even if I had to sneak away to the ?bathroom? to get it ?). I also made consistent sleep a priority as much as I could with a nursing baby.

These are habits I?ve maintained to this day, except I don?t have to hide in the bathroom anymore for peace and quiet!

Stress management was the single biggest change I made to break the cycle, but I also developed strategies to tame a flare if I felt one coming on that I?m going to share with you.

7 Interventions to Stop Your Flare Before It Erupts

1. Clean your diet up. Most of us let our diet go when we?re under stress. Naturally, our bodies crave sugar and carbs to fuel our stress response (but we?re not running away from tigers and lions anymore). Sugar in general promotes inflammation, but so do gluten and dairy. I recommend eliminating these first if you haven?t already. Eating a diet focused on whole foods- meat, fish, eggs, veggies, fruits, and healthy fats will be supportive of calming inflammation.

If you?ve already pared down your diet, you might be sensitive to something else you?re eating. Start paying attention to how you flare responds to food. Do certain ones make you itch more? Do they give you other symptoms of inflammation like mucus production or joint pain? Is the response immediate or delayed?

Using a diary requires some effort, but it?s the best way to track the effects of diet and lifestyle. When I feel a flare come on, I open up an spreadsheet on my computer. I make columns for meals, immediate and delayed reactions, supplements, exercise, stress, sleep, and observations. I record everything that was notable and if nothing is notable I leave that spot blank. This way I can identify immediate issues, but also patterns that may otherwise be hard to see. This is actually how I figured out that I had a histamine issue.

2. Avoid Histamines. These nasty chemicals are produced in the inflammatory response and are part of the reason you itch. You can be consuming them in food or supplements like probiotics. There is a detailed list in my free triggers guide ?Eczema: Seven Sneaky Sources Making Your Flare Worse.? Additionally, fish, seafood, cured and deli meats, aged cheeses, dried fruits, citrus fruits, pickles, and any fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kombucha, and sauerkraut. Basically, if it?s aged in any way- pickled, preserved, fermented, dried, salted or cured, it contains histamines. That makes left overs a no-go too.

Unfortunately, bone broth which is very healing, also contains high histamine levels, so watch out for any histamine related symptoms including itching, runny nose, mucus or phlegm, redness, etc.

Some strains of the probiotic group Lactobacillus (L. casei and L. bulgaricus) are known to produce histamine which may aggravate your eczema. From my clinical experience, I?ve also seen patients have a histamine reaction to other probiotics too, so pay attention to how your body responds to them. Remember- everyone is unique and we?ll all have different reactions to different substance.

3. Consume anti-inflammatory foods (or their supplement form). I?m a big fan of food as medicine. Some of the best anti-inflammatory foods are herbs and spices, specifically turmeric, ginger, and garlic. Together, these are pack a triple threat anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and gut and skin healing punch. They can be consumed easily in meals- especially any Asian or Indian recipes, added to smoothies, pre-made tea bags, or in this healing tea/infusion recipe.

The supplement forms can be used too. Sometimes you?ll find an anti-inflammatory combo with all or a few of these ingredients or they can be used separately. I prefer to use them for specific actions when using them as separate often highly concentrated supplements. In this capacity is use turmeric (curcumin) for inflammation, ginger for gut healing and calming, and garlic as an antimicrobial.

4. ?Avoid extreme temperatures. Whether you?re indoors or outdoors, or doing things like bathing or exercising, really hot or cold temperatures can have a negative effect on eczema. In the past, I?ve had a histamine reaction during exercise that resulted in extremely red and itchy legs in both summer and late fall. It?s really hard to workout when you stop to scratch every 10 seconds (plus people stare at your tomato red legs)!

Similarly, hot showers will do the same to me. I know when I?m in a flare to keep showers lukewarm or even cold.

5. Take a timeout. Not the kind where you sit in the corner and think about what you did wrong, but to similarly be still and contemplate. A couple of times each day take 10 minutes to just sit in silence while deep breathing. This doesn?t have to be a full on meditation (although if you want to- go for it because it?s amazing for stress reduction). The point is to let your mind quiet down and focus your intention to calmness and healing.

We spend all of our time in a stressed out, fight or flight mode (a.k.a. sympathetic nervous system ), which promotes inflammation, rather than the rest, digest, and reproduce mode (a.k.a. parasympathetic nervous system), which promotes healing. Chilling out, naps, eating, and sex are way more appealing anyway!

6. Laugh and play. Similar to the previous point, taking time to laugh and play does wonders for inflammation and counteracting the effects of the sympathetic nervous system. If you?re in a flare you might need to take a ?personal day? from work.

Send the kids to school (if you have them) and just chill out watching funny movies or meet a comedic friend for lunch. When the kids come home, do something fun like playing games or something you all enjoy together. If you don?t have kids, grab a spouse, partner, or friend do your favorite activity.

The goal is enjoy life and put a smile on your face. There are lots of positive chemical effects that occur in your body when you smile, laugh, or share intimate moments with those you’re close with.

Bonus tip– if you?re a stay at home mom with a baby or small kids it?s hard to take a personal day. Instead of calling in sick to your boss, call a friend or family member to watch the kids for a couple hours (or more if possible) so you can focus on some fun or alone time. No running errands or chores- this time is for you to enjoy yourself!!

7. Pamper your skin with healing moisture. Once you get out of your not-too-hot shower, be sure to apply moisturizer ASAP. I?m a fan of my healing salve recipe, however, there are many options, especially if you?re just into the beginning of a flare. Coconut oil, shea butter, or a combination of the two may just be enough to get your skin going in the right direction. If you start to develop lesions, bumps, or extreme redness, the salve might be a better choice.

There are also many choices available online now too. I?ve had many clients tell me about creams and lotions that have worked for them. The key here is to get a clean and green one- avoid synthetic chemicals, dyes, and scents. Many of the good natural formulas have a base of coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, and/or tallow (usually from beef) combined with essential oils or healing herbs. Going with a blend like this will help avoid topical reactions on the skin.

What remedies have you tried that have helped calm your symptoms down? Let us know in the comments section. Thanks!